


Fiery Kings

by KaelsMiscellany



Series: A Hush Sublime [1]
Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Fallen Angel Nathan, Multi, No Troubles, Werewolf Duke, just supernaural, what is Audrey Parker?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:03:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 41
Words: 165,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6136084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaelsMiscellany/pseuds/KaelsMiscellany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan has lived a very long time, has been in Haven a long time, has seen a woman come to town every twenty seven years. Has been a friend, a lover, a shoulder to cry on for her. Has mourned her when she vanishes.</p><p>This time she is Audrey Parker.</p><p>And this time, things will be Different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cover

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo my first Haven chapter fic *sets off party poppers*. And probably the first of many AUs I will write (they seem to be my wheelhouse in other fandoms, why not this one too?) for this OT3.
> 
> For right now I'll be posting chapters once a month, you'll all certainly find out if that changes.
> 
> Title comes from _Europe: A Prophecy_ by William Blake:  
>  Unwilling I look up to heaven: unwilling count the stars  
> Sitting in fathomless abyss of my immortal shrine;  
> I seize their burning power  
> And bring forth howling terror, all devouring fiery kings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There cannot be thanks enough for Theres-no-Netflix-in-prison, he's just the best dude. Thanks for this awesome cover.


	2. Chapter 2

The clink of a bottle hitting the table pulls Nathan from his traditional musings back to reality; usually being inattentive like that gets him injured. But this is the Grey Gull, which is relatively safe; also so far it’s not as if anything here can kill him, not even Duke’s personality.

Speaking of, the man—well werewolf—himself is standing next to Nathan’s usual table, his hand still on the neck of the blue bottle he’s just placed in front of Nathan. It doesn’t have a label of any sort, but he already knows what’s in it, there’s no Earthly drink that gives off the same sort of feel as Spiritus. “Where did you get that?” It’s not the first time Nathan’s had the Angelic beverage since he got himself stuck on Earth, but it’s a rare treat.

Duke gives a toothy smile. “Yes Nathan, you’re welcome.” He pops the cork and pours out the silvery-pink liquid into two glasses. “And really you expect me to give my secrets to a cop?” Which Nathan hadn’t exactly intended to become when he’d settled into Haven a hundred and fifty years ago, but it keeps him relatively sane; still it means that Nathan’s had to arrest Duke more than a few times over the decades, although half the things Duke smuggles into various markets get by by the sheer fact that they ‘don’t exist’.

Carefully, although Nathan’s had enough experience now with not feeling that he’s gotten pretty good at it, he picks up the glass and drinks. He still has very distant memories from before he Fell of what Spiritus tasted like, sweet as Angelic choirs and warming to the soul, now however it just burns; better than any liquor humans have so far invented. “What’s the occasion?” His feelings towards Duke might be antagonistic at best, but they’ve known each other for over a hundred years and that much shared history goes a long way.

“Well I thought you might as well have a proper drink if you’re going to start your moping this early. I mean she’s not even here yet,” Duke grouses and Nathan can’t help but feel offended.

“I’m not moping,” he denies, although it’s the truth. _She_ , whatever her name might be this time around, will be in Haven soon, and it’s the best and worst times of his life.

“Uh huh,” Duke goes along. “Then how about you bet me a hundred dollars that if I served you pancakes you’ll actually dig into them instead of shuffling them around the plate morosely.”

Of course Nathan can’t make that bet, because Duke’s right, the bastard. He is moping, not that he’ll admit it. Then again he has a right to, because he loves her, and she won’t know him at all; and just like the last time he’ll only have her for a few months before the Orionids sweep her away in October for another twenty seven years. “I hate you,” he replies by rout.

“Yep, same to you buddy.” Duke smirks and clicks their glasses together. “And yet despite that let me remind you that for all your stoicism you’re not half-bad in the charm department. You _can_ get her to like you.”

Nathan knows, he takes another drink, but he’s still, after all this time, used to being the on inflicting the pain not receiving it; and it always hurts when she leaves, even more when she loves him. And it doesn’t escape Nathan’s notice that Duke still wears the necklace she’d given him the last time she was here, she’d been Lucy then and it had grated on him that she’d leaned more towards Duke than him, but in the grand scheme did it really matter?

“It’s not ‘can’ Duke, it’s ‘want’.” Eternity, as Duke has commiserate when they rarely managed to get well and truly drunk together, is the worst.

Duke pours out more Spiritus. “I know you probably don’t take much stock in this since it’s coming from me, but you _do_ deserve to be happy. I mean when was the last time you got laid?”

And even though he’s only had a little the Spiritus must be getting to him, because he actually answers. “1955,” he refuses to look at Duke.

“Nineteen...Christ Nate.” Even if he’s not looking at the other man he can still hear his huff of annoyance and the barely there sounds of him running a hand through his hair. “And here I thought fallen angels were supposed to be insatiable.”

“And I thought that was werewolves,” he shoots back; knowing full well Duke’s got a whole bevy of sexual partners. “And you know why.” It’s harder, but not impossible, to enjoy sex when you can’t feel what’s happening to you. He remembers the first time she’d touched him in 1874—the first time they’d met—she’d been Constance then, and how shocking it had been to feel again.

Duke makes a face, downs the rest of his own glass—which Nathan thinks is a waste really—corks the bottle and stands. “Well if you’re going to be an idiot about taking care of yourself again then I’m sure as hell not going to stop you this time. Spiritus is on the house.” Nathan’s not exactly grateful for that, he’d probably be able to afford whatever outrageous price Duke would put on the drink, but it is nice.

Then Duke shows how much of a dick he is by snatching the half full glass out of Nathan’s hand and drinks the rest of it. “See you tomorrow,” he calls out as he walks away.

And Nathan tries very hard, just like all the other times, not to react to the _feeling_ of Duke’s too warm hand. Because _she’s_ not the only one Nathan can feel; but Duke doesn’t need another reason to be a smug asshole.

-

Audrey Parker awakes with a groan; rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sits up and tries to remember what it was about this dream that had woken her up...she glances at her clock, an hour before her alarm goes off.

She gives another groan as she flops back onto her still slightly warm bed. The dream escapes her like all of her others, granted she knows that’s typical of _everyone’s_ dreams, leaving behind the teasing hint of a man’s sleepy laughter on her shoulder.

Of course she has no idea if that’s her subconscious telling her she should get laid or not. She’s had a few one night stands over the past year, but while they were enjoyable to a certain extent they still left her mostly feeling cold. Which in her mind is all the more reason to just stick to work and just not worry at all about relationships or sex. Less stress in her life that way, and working with the FBI she needs all the stress free time she can get.

As she stares up at her bare popcorn ceiling she has the feeling that something important’s going to happen soon; something life changing. Audrey’s not sure if she wants that or not, despite the relative monotony she _likes_ her life. She knows exactly where she stands at work, and with the few people she interacts with on a regular basis; and it’s nice.

Deciding she’s not going to get back to sleep, at least not enough to be meaningful, she gets up and after turning her alarm off pads from her bedroom to the kitchen. Coffee brewing she opens her fridge and looks at the vast void of food within, there are a few takeout boxes, testament to what she’s been eating since she got home a few days ago, but not of the sort she’d happily eat for breakfast.

Still she has a half full, only recently expired, box of mini-wheats in the cupboard. She pours herself a bowl then goes and gets her morning paper. The heavenly smell of coffee fills the house as she comes back in and soon she’s pouring it over her cereal and settling in to read the headlines.

Two more bowls of cereal later the box is empty and so is her coffee pot. Feeling mostly awake she goes back to her room to dress, intent on _actually_ grocery shopping today; it’s been a few days and she definitely needs more food.

Except when she opens her front door to head out her boss Howard is standing on her doorstep, fist raised as if he were just about to knock. Well there goes her hope of grocery shopping, on the upside she sees a box of pastries from her favorite bakery under the FBI file.

“Morning sir,” she steps aside and gestures him in.

“Morning agent Parker,” he goes to her bare dining room and sets the file and box on the table. “Sorry to disturb you so early.” She knows most agents would find it unsettling that their bosses came to their houses to hand out assignments and pick up paperwork, but Audrey’s never minded; she kind of likes it actually, makes it feel more personal.

“I don’t mind,” it’s only half a lie. “Should I make up some coffee?” The file’s interesting of course, but she’ll let Howard tell her about it in his own time.

“Ah, no thank you.” He picks up the file and holds it out to her. “I know you just got back into Boston the other day, but I felt you were the only one who could handle this case.”

A warm sort of pride fills her as she takes the file as starts flipping through it. She gives a little frown though as she gets into the details. “Shouldn’t the Marshals be the ones all over this?” Granted prisoners escaping is a big deal, but in her grand scheme of cases this one seems sort of small potatoes.

Howard opens the pastry box and pulls out a cruller, “normally yes. But _my_ boss decided to hand it off to me, and I’ve learned not to argue with the man.” He tilts the box towards her in offering.

“No thanks,” she declines, Well it _is_ a vacation of sorts, just not the sort she’d be expecting. “Haven, Maine?” She’s never heard of it before, but she’s been to lots of places she’s never heard of until a case leads her there.

He’s wandered from the dining room towards her ‘living room’ the coffee table there littered with books. “Yes,” reaching out he scoops one off and fips to read the back. “It’s only a little likely he’s returned to his hometown but it’s at least a good place to start. And it’s relatively close.” He makes a face, probably at the florid mention of ‘true love’—but Audrey’s never been ashamed for liking romance novels. “If possible I’d like you to head out today.”

“Well sir,” she jokes as she closes the file and joins him. “I think you’re in luck because my calendar's just opened up. And you’re welcome to borrow that.”

Her joke gets a huff of laughter out of him, which she’ll take as a win. “Thank you but no.” Is what he says, but she watches him palm the book as he ‘sets it down’, biting back a smile of her own she picks up another, “space pirates.” she tells him with a grin. “Trust me you’ll love it.” She usually prefers historicals, but she’d enjoyed it herself.

She thinks she actually sees a blush, but he takes it. “Give me a call when you get into town.” He reminds, tucking the other book into his coat pocket as well.

“Will do.” She sees him to the door. Once she’s alone again she goes up to her room and packs; she’d like to think it wouldn’t take more than a few days, but she’s been wrong before. It also doesn’t hurt to pack for eventualities, especially with it being February and snow still being a possibility.

Car loaded up, the box of pastries firmly secure in the passenger seat—she’s got a four hour drive ahead of her they’ll be very welcome—she give one last look at the inside of her place. “Well, goodbye again.” She says to the empty space, for a brief moment wondering what it would be like to have someone respond, or someone to even come home to. It leaves her feeling strange and she does her best to abandon those thoughts as she gets in her car and drives off.

-

Even with it being the middle of the day Duke can still feel the moon tugging at the edges of him; they’re still a week off from full, but that doesn’t lessen his desire to run _now_. But he actually _does_ have self-control, no matter what Nathan insinuates, and even if everyone here has a good idea that he’s not human that’s no excuse to go turning into a wolfman right in the middle of the restaurant.

So he’ll stay behind the bar and chat up townies and tourists alike, maybe shirk off in an hour to bug Nathan at the station; except no, if the chatter from the police radio right now is any indication. Murder at the beach? He’ll pass, least of all because turning up at the crime scene is likely to get him arrested, again.

If he didn’t know Nathan were so hung up on his Lady Chameleon he’d think the other man was flirting with him. Granted Duke’s not sure Nathan’s attitudes have even left the 19th century let alone the 20th; for a fallen angel the man plays the prude well, on the other hand the man’s a _fallen angel_ , sex with men can’t be _that_ alien to him.

Which makes it all the more amusing to get his goat up.

Giving his head a shake he tries to focus on the _now_ , none of that matters with the beginning of a new cycle. Maybe _that’s_ why he’s feeling antsy, wondering what sort of change that woman is going to bring to town this time.

So maybe he’ll let himself have a run tonight, it’s been awhile since he did a good patrol of the Brambles. Granted he’s sometimes welcome even less there than he is in town, the more inhuman residents of Haven being even more insular than the townies. But that’s the way of Haven, the supernatural here was a secret, but an open one. And as long as you didn’t start killing people or causing too many problems, well your neighbors just called you Troubled and let you be.

The main reason he’d come back home really, that and the fact he’d started to have the creeping urge to have _territory_ that wasn’t just a boat.

It had been a bit of a shock to return to Haven and discover a fallen angel had set up shop, with no real designs on the place other than to make it a home for himself. Still the first eighteen years had been...rough; until Maggie Collins had blown into town and demanded he give up his smuggling connections.

Things had smoothed out with Nathan, and despite the rocky start he and Maggie had gotten along like houses on fire; and then in late October she’d vanished.

He’d always heard stories about her growing up of course, but he hadn’t put much stock in them. And well, he’d been born after she’d left and he’d struck out as sailor before she’d come back, so he hadn’t had any first hand experience with her until he’d returned.

He can see why Nathan is in love with her though. She always has a spark about her that draws you in, even sketchier sorts like himself weren’t immune.

He gives another shake of his head, if he keeps this up he’ll start moping like Nathan, Buddha forbid. Of course he knows that will change when she comes into town, Nathan’s a new fallen angel when she’s here—even if he’s still an ass to Duke. And when she leaves he becomes a stoic again, rinse and repeat.

Just once Duke wants it to go differently. Have things get shaken up more than usual, get a little wild. Loosen up some of Nathan’s tight laces. He can only hope.

Duke gladly hands bar duty over to Steve when the other man arrives for his shift and heads outside, ducking under the ‘private’ sign on the stairs up to the empty apartment above the Gull. Leaning against the railing he breaths in deep, there’s the ocean—which he’s been around for so long that it’s basically a non-smell—a hint of blood from what must be the crime scene, and something new. he can’t quite pin it down, but well, he’s got his suspicions considering.

 _Here we go again_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guess who also can't wait a month for the next chapter? xD
> 
> To be fair, I've made bigger steps in terms of plot/chapters than I thought I would two weeks ago. I guess you all get to benefit from that (aka I'm posting chapters every two weeks instead).

Nathan’s still not quite sure how to feel about the fact she _pulled a gun on him_. Part of him is amused, because it’s _funny_ ; the last time she’d done it had been in ‘28 and she’d been demanding to know where Duke was. On the other hand it doesn’t exactly speak well for whatever their relationship might be.

It doesn’t help that part of him still wants to yank her onto his lap and just _hold_ her. It’s not as bad a yearning as it had been when he’d first met Lucy, but it’s still there. He doesn’t _want_ this _agent_ Parker to be Sarah, but he, like with Lucy, can’t help but wonder if she’ll fill in some of those aching spaces.

Which isn’t fair to agent Parker he knows that full well. But that doesn’t stop him from wanting it.

He frowns when the ground shakes again, he knows what’s causing it of course his ‘father’—everyone knows it’s a lie, but they also know it’s better that way—but Garland hasn’t lost control of himself this much since he was a kid and had just started out with his powers.

Which also doesn’t bode well, for other things.

“Is there anyplace here that’s got good food? I’m starving.”Agent Parker asks, and he has to focus on the road. Even after doing this five times before it’s hard not to react to the sound of her voice.

He wants to reach out and take her hand, to feel the warmth of it and the barely there catch of callouses. Instead he hears the steering wheel creak, and he does his best to loosen his grip. “I’d have thought you’d want out of here as fast as possible.” He curses the note of bitterness in his tone. “You found your guy didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” she says slowly, and he deserves the odd look. It’s getting harder to pretend he doesn’t know her, maybe he should leave Haven for a few years or a century, regain some distance; otherwise he knows being around her will only get worse. “But now I need to find who killed him. And I think better on a full stomach.”

“You don’t think it was a freak accident? With all the snow we got this year a rock slide’s possible.” It’s not of course, but he has to make the effort that Haven’s just like any normal town. Without meaning to he finds himself driving towards the Grey Gull, Duke’s gonna _love_ Agent Parker, Nathan’s sure.

For a second he thinks she’s doing one of those breathing exercises Duke does to keep his calm. “There weren’t any rocks around him,” she explains patiently, although he already knew it. “Now, the best bet still is that he was pushed, but why?”

 _‘Because barely a quarter of this town is human’_ he wants to tell her. _‘Because he’d probably threatened someone or something and the person responsible made a choice.’_ Nathan knows how they feel. He’s made a lot of those choices over the decades, then again he’s sure it’s easier for him to live with them than it is for more mortal beings; he might be stuck on Earth, but it hasn’t exactly changed _who_ , and _what_ , he is.

The crunch of gravel draws his attention to the fact he’d been driving on autopilot, which is _careless_ of him, and they’ve arrived at the Grey Gull.

“Established nineteen twenty,” agent Parker—distance he needs some distance—reads from the sign. “That’s quite impressive, tough time to start a restaurant I would think though.”

Nathan snorts, because he knows full well how good Duke had it during Prohibition. “The drinks were free back then,” he jokes, “we couldn’t arrest him.” Granted in the grand scheme of things keeping Haven wetter than the ocean wasn’t exactly a crime, sometimes it was better for people to just drink.

“What is this place still run by the guy who opened it?” There’s a twitch of a smile on her face as she asks.

“No,” Nathan lies, “his great-grandson. I’m told the foods better at least. But they charge for drinks now.”

It earns him a huff of laughter and, damn it. He forces himself to walk, to follow her in. Duke’s at the bar, eyes zeroing in on them right away. “Detective Wuornos, what can I do for you?” He glances at Nathan’s hand, and looking down Nathan realizes he’s bleeding, shit.

Audrey turns her head to look at him, “Wuornos? You mean-”

“You take a seat,” he interrupts, “I need to use the bathroom.” He doesn’t wait for a response before heads heading off. He knows his hand will be healed by the time he gets there—he’d managed to keep _some_ perks—but he still needs to clean off the blood.

By the time he gets out, he’d lucked out and hadn’t gotten any on his clothes at least, agent Parker and Duke are chatting up a storm— _of course_ they are—on the upside Duke made him pancakes in seemingly no time at all.

He’s halfway through the first before he realizes agent Parker’s grinning at him. “Wow Duke was right, you really do love pancakes.”

He can’t feel himself blush of course, but he doesn’t need to look in a mirror to know his ears are pink. “They’re good,” he protest; they might be what trapped him on Earth in the first place—and what sort of strange shit was that?—but that didn’t stop them from being the best thing he’s ever eaten.

“What can I say?” Duke’s grinning too, if more...evilly than agent Parker’s. “Wuornos here is man of simple pleasures.” Which is hardly true at all, Nathan’s just...selective; he _has_ to be. Otherwise he...lose focus; _she_ always seems to come to understand that, and it helps to have her keep him on track; some were better than others.

He kicks Duke under the table, not sure how he feels when he spots a familiar glimmer of silver in the other man’s eyes that means he _really_ hurt him. “So agent Parker,” Duke turns his attention back to her. “How are you enjoying Haven so far? Wuornos given you the nickle and dime tour yet?”

“No, and considering I just got her half an hour ago there hasn’t been much time.” Ashley, one of Duke’s waitresses stops by the table and drops off a plate of fish in front of agent Parker.

“Enjoy,” the young woman says with a smile before continuing on her way.

Agent Parker looks at it like she’s never seen fish before, she said she was from Boston, how could she not have had fresh seafood? “What is it?”

Duke looks put upon. “You wanted a surprise. Just try it, haven’t had any complaints yet.” The put upon look vanishes into Duke’s familiar cocksure grin.

“Except Jenkins,” Nathan reminds, because he always enjoys bursting Duke’s bubble. He takes another bite of pancake.

It earns him a look and he jerks slightly to the side when Duke kicks his chair.

“Should I have you two sit in opposite corners?” Amusement fills agent Parker’s voice and Nathan’s certain he’s blushing again. Granted Duke looks a little embarrassed himself. Seemingly happy that they’ve stopped going at each other she digs into the fish.

“Oh my God,” a look of amazed bliss crosses her face, Nathan can commiserate—Duke’s food is criminally good. “This is amazing.”

Duke regains his smile. “Well I’m glad you like it.” He even sounds like he means it. Granted the only times Duke ever seems to lie is when he’s on a job, so he probably _does_ mean it.

It makes Nathan feel...well a tad jealous—which he _knows_ he has no right to feel, he has no claim on Parker, even with his previous relationships with her—but something else as well, something he doesn’t think he’s ever felt before. But he’ll just have to deal with it. He has before, and he will again.

“So what brings you to Haven agent Parker?” Duke asks slyly as she digs into her fish again.

“That’s police business Duke, and you’re damn well not a cop.” Nathan answers before agent Parker can; it’s the truth, even if he’s brought Duke in on more than a few cases.

Which Duke knows too, and the pout his gives Nathan is highly exaggerated, definitely mocking. “Can’t a man make small talk Nathan? Or is that illegal now too?” It’s not quite a challenge, but it’s hard to miss the way Duke straightens, the way his body language radiates danger.

It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve physically fought, but they haven’t really tried to hurt each other and Nathan’s not inclined to find out what would happen if that changed; just because he won’t feel it afterwards doesn’t mean Duke can’t fuck him up.

“Maybe you two should take this fight outside?” Agent Parker’s voice is surprisingly calm, and it does shame Nathan into backing off, it’s _ridiculous_ , him and Duke going after each other like this.

“How about I leave instead,” Duke nearly shoots up from his seat. “Meal’s on the house agent, I hope to see you again.” Not even giving _Nathan_ time to protest—then again maybe it’s for the best, Nathan knows Duke gets more testy around the full moon—he leaves.

Agent Parker frowns. “Thanks Duke,” she calls out to his retreating back. Then turns her full attention back on Nathan. “Did I miss something?”

Knowing full well that Duke can still hear them Nathan shrugs. “Duke gets like that sometimes, it’ll pass. Don’t hold it against him.” Nathan’s not really sure why he’s standing up for Duke, the man certainly doesn’t need his help, but here he is.

“Well I hope so,” Agent Parker replies. “He seems like a nice guy.”

Nathan finds his lips twitching. “He can be when he wants to.”

-

Duke sits on the deck of the _Rouge_ and tries to focus on his newspaper. But it seems like a losing battle. His Mandarin might not be flawless, but it’s pretty damn good, yet the kanji on the page is just gibberish to his brain right now.

It’s probably because of the woman currently sleeping in his bed. _Agent Audrey Parker_ , it’s always...eerie seeing her for the first time and remembering who she was before. Now it seems his brain’s stuck on it; they might not have had much conversation before Nathan had returned from his clean up in the bathroom, but Duke’s afraid it was enough. She’s barely been in the town a day and already he can feel himself getting drawn in.

After Maggie he’d sworn he wouldn’t let that happen again. With Sarah it’d been easy, she hadn’t exactly _liked_ him; and Lucy, well she’d enjoyed drinking with him but she’d kept him at arm’s length. But here it was, all over again.

The sound of paper shredding reaches his ears and he looked to see that he’d torn his paper, with nice neat claw marks. Taking a few deep breaths he folds the paper and sets it aside. Craning his neck back he stares up at the cloudless sky and tries to think of nothing at all.

He manages quite well, at least until he hears the creak of metal coming from his living quarters. Sounded like Parker’s up.

A few seconds later she’s on deck, sheet wrapped around her and her gun pointed at him. “Where are my clothes?”

He won’t hold the gun pointing against her; so far she hasn’t _shot_ him. “Over there,” he gestures to the line he’d hung them on. “And really Agent Parker, is that any way to treat the man who saved your life?”

She frowns and her eyebrows sink as she narrows her eyes at him, displeasure coming off her in waves. Her gun’s still pointed at him as she begins sidling her way towards the line. “And also undressed me while I was unconscious?” She challenges, and he can feel an answering call in him, which he does his best to ignore. She doesn’t know what Haven is yet, no point in telling her in possibly the worst way ever.

“Well you _had_ just fallen into the water, and it’s still winter. I didn’t want you to catch hypothermia.” He’s not sure if she can get sick like that, but it’s also the truth; at least these days it wasn’t the sort of sickness that killed anymore.

She grabs her clothes and strategically unwrapping the blanket she tosses it over the line to hide her from him. “I would have thought a guy like you would’ve jumped at the chance to cuddle with a naked woman.”

“Hey now,” there’s a thread of real anger in his voice. Because, no. “I only enjoy consensual cuddling.” He tries to tamp down the anger as best he can, keep things light. Nevermind that it _had_ been hard to resist, but he doesn’t want to be that sort of man.

“Wuornos says you’re a criminal.” She’s dressed now, and the clothes really do make her look completely different. Naked the only real difference between her and Maggie, or Lucy, is the hair. But with the clothes there’s no mistaking that this is Agent Parker with the FBI.

Of course what she’s telling him is nothing new, he and Nathan might have outlived most of the people in this town, but they’re still at odds with each other for most of it. “Import Export,” he protests. “Just like the rest of my family.” Which _is_ a lie, his dad had practically run the town when he’d still be alive, just like his father before him and on down the line; he and Wade are the first two to buck the tradition—on the other hand Wade likes to think he’s not a werewolf at all. “Oh and restaurant management.”

“Right,” but there’s a smile on her face despite the disbelieving tone. “Well thanks I guess for the rescue, and for drying my clothes.”

“No problem, but maybe,” he grins. “Don’t tell Nathan.” It’ll be fun to keep from the other man, even if he doesn’t dangle it like bait.

She arches an eyebrow as she finally holsters her gun. “What, afraid to lose your roguish image?”

He stands. “No, I just enjoy annoying him. It brings me happiness.”

Duke’s not sure if that’s a snort or a laugh, but he doesn’t like the way it makes his belly clench. “Well maybe you should do something about that, with banter like yours.”

“Oh no, no, no.” He steps closer to her, pleased that she doesn’t retreat. “Dear Detective Wuornos is as straight as a freeway, I’m not getting anywhere on that.” That first year or two when he’d come back to Haven he’d tested those waters, only to get stonewalled. And when he’d met Maggie he completely understood.

“What,” Parker grins. “And you’re as crooked as a country road?” Oh, she’s good.

“Damn straight,” he jokes, giving her his most charming smile. “Now could I possibly convince you to stay for coffee? Maybe dinner? If you think what you had at the Gull was good wait until _I_ cook.” The words escape before he can stop them.

But she shakes her head. “No, I should get back, don’t want anyone to panic.” At least her scent is as disappointed as he feels. It’s not hard to see she’s already made a choice of some sort, and it makes sense; dating a crook never works in real life. After a few seconds though she continues. “Maybe a raincheck?”

It’s a fight to keep his charming smile, to not let it turn real. “I’ll hold you to that Agent Parker,” he gives a little bow and gestures to the ramp, just in case she missed it.

She smiles back and walks off, he watches her. Following her easily as she leaves the dock and heads for her car. He doesn’t look away until her car’s left the harbor. Then taking a deep breath he braces himself, and heads into the living quarters.

He barely sees the common area, eyes focused on the door that leads to his bedroom. Although even from here he can smell her, teasingly crisp and something citrusy—too tart to be an orange, yet sweeter than a lemon.

Even if she’d only been in there an hour or so the scent of her has already permeated the whole of his space, intermingling with his own scent in a way that makes his belly heat and twist. He bangs the back of his head against the wall.

Duke knows he could go down into the hold and get out his industrial cleaners, scrub every inch of the space until all he could smell was bleach for a week, make himself scent blind from it. Launder his clothes and sheets, maybe burn one of the scented oils he has. He knows all of that would get her out of this space, but he does none of it.

Instead he steps forward and falls into the bed.

He knows full well, and hopes to the moon no one discovers it, that he’s sentimental. He keeps knick knacks and trinkets, mementos of times and people. With lovers even moreso; he still has all the letters Evi wrote him all those years ago, the silver jewelry box a grateful family had given her after she’d smuggled their son out of South Carolina, he thinks he might even still have the bouquet from their wedding, even if it’s only so much dust now. Merciful moon he still has some of Maggie’s _clothes_ , safely stored away in the Crocker house; he tries not to think of what Parker might look like in those flapper dresses.

His father had tried to beat the sentimentality out of him, _‘You’re a_ wolf _, you rule, you kill, getting attached is pointless.’_ He’d died when Duke was nine and barely a year later he’d stowed away on a boat, determined to leave Haven behind for good. He’d still come back anyways. Sentimental to a fault.

Haven was like that.

-

Part of Audrey still couldn’t believe it. _Magic_ , the _supernatural_ , here in Haven, out for anyone to see, if you know how to look. It’s, it’s, mind boggling; yet there’s something satisfying about it. To see humans—Wuornos had said about a quarter of the population was straight up human—not seeming to _care_ that their neighbor might be able to control the weather with their thoughts and in love with a man who could move things with his mind.

Now everywhere she looks she finds she can only wonder if who in the people she sees are not human. Was the man out jogging a wizard? The woman walking her fluffy dog a succubus? Wuornos she knew was one, if his inability to feel was anything to go by. Was Duke human or supernatural too?

Then to top it all off she’s apparently _immune_ ; oh sure when Marion had made it rain Audrey’d still gotten wet, but when Conrad had accidently pushed at them Wuornos had gone flying and Audrey’d stayed right where she’d been standing.

Without really thinking about it she pulls out her phone and dials Howard. Thankful that it’s still a mostly reasonable hour and he should pick up unless he was in a meeting.

“Parker, I didn’t expect to hear from you this soon.” Howard’s voice has a faint edge of amusement.

She bites her tongue to keep from saying that it’s been three days, he should have expected her to call sooner. Instead she says, “I solved the case. I’m letting Haven PD deal with the culprit.” She’s not sure anywhere outside of Haven _could_ deal with Conrad, not that HPD was really going to punish the man since it had been self-defence.

“Good,” Howard’s voice pulls her back to the conversation. “Then I’ll be seeing you and your report tomorrow?”

His tone is expectant, yet… “Sir if possible I’d like to take some vacation time.” She’s never taken a day off in her life, not even sick days, she’s got so much vacation time piled up she could probably not work for a year.

Silence for a painfully long moment. “Of course,” relief fills her, at least until: “any particular reason if I may ask?”

“No sir, it’s just, Haven’s a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I just wanted to take some time and really get into it.” It’s the truth, even if only the bare skimming of it.

“Alright, I can get you two weeks, but I also want check-ups; make sure something hasn’t happened to you.”

“Of course sir,” that’s what makes Howard a good boss, although she’d hoped for more time. Still she can work with two weeks, she’ll work with whatever she can get; Haven’s just too interesting to pass up. “I’ll call you on Fridays.”

“I can work with that. Enjoy Haven Parker.” And with that Howard hangs up.

Pocketing her phone she takes a sip from her coffee, watching the townsfolk pass. Across the street Dave waves at her, mostly harmless Wuornos had told her when she’d asked—although they apparently kept bothering him for interviews about Haven’s history. She waves back.

For the first time in what feels like forever she feels _energized_.  Maybe there’s something to this whole ‘vacation’ thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo I probably should have mentioned last chapter that this fic is actually directed inspired by something, [this fantastic little comic](http://whenwolfsbaneblooms.tumblr.com/post/139076154512/nudityandnerdery-thefingerfuckingfemalefury).


	4. Chapter 4

“Frogs!” Audrey sputters as she pulls her coat over her head and makes a jog for the police station doors, it might make her look ridiculous, but it’s better than the alternative. “Frogs falling from the sky Wuornos!” The probably poor things hit the muddy-snowy ground with wet smacks, but so far none of them look like they’ve died.

Wuornos is following suit, so at least she’s not the only one that looks ridiculous, he’s grinning though. “Welcome to Haven,” like it’s some big prank the station’s pulled to ‘welcome’ her; actually that seems entirely likely now that she thinks about it.

He does hold the door open for her however, so maybe it’s just Haven.

Inside she’s grateful to see that her coat managed to escape the unnatural ‘rain’ relatively unscathed, although she thinks there might be a bit of slime on the shoulder.

“Hey Stan,” Wuornos speaks to the desk-sergeant. “Wanna call up…”

“Claire and have her talk to Mary-Anne? Already done.” The man—Stan, she repeats, if she’s going to be doing this being friendly with the locals will definitely help—smiles. “Chief also wants to talk to the both of you.”

Which Audrey is sure will be _oodles_ of fun, the chief doesn’t seem to like her much, although she thinks it’s more than the usual ‘sticking your nose in business you’ve got no right to’ that most small town cops get. “So who’s Claire? And what does it have to do with the rain of frogs?”

Wuornos’ steps slow, which means Audrey’s don’t change at all really because he’s practically a giant anyways; but it does mean it will take them slightly longer to get to the chief’s office. “She’s one of the two psychiatrists in town, Mary-Anne is one of her patients, who happens to make it rain frogs whenever she’s depressed.”

Which is not the sort of supernatural ability Audrey would think is useful; to be fair she hadn’t thought of it as an ability someone would _have_ in the first place, but she guesses you don’t get much choice.

Then they’re at the chief’s door, Wuornos knocks before they enter. Looking up the Chief gives them both a cursory glance—as if he’s searching for something—then returns to his paperwork. “Want you both to head down to the harbor and remind Beady it’s a dry day until noon tomorrow. Rather not have a repeat of last time.”

For a moment she thinks Wuornos is going to protest, even to her it sounds like busy work, but then he gives a sharp nod. “Yes sir. Is that all?”

“Keep an ear on the radio, case Laverne needs you,” the chief replies absently, his focus clearly not on them.

She hurries after Wuornos, “he doesn’t like me does he?” Outside there aren’t anymore frogs falling from the sky, nor are there anymore on the ground; like the ‘storm’ five minutes ago didn’t even happen.

“Don’t take it personally.” They head to his Bronco—at least with her rental out of commission there’s no argument over which car they’ll take. “It’s the start of an upswing and it’s making him antsy. And he’s not much of a people person to begin with.”

The Bronco at least is still slightly warm, which is nice—it had surprised her when he’d said to fiddle with the heat as she liked, until she remembered he couldn’t feel—and soon enough they’re headed out. “Upswing?” She knows what it means, but she didn’t think places like Haven _had_ crime upswings. “And what’s a dry day?” It feels like she’s got a mountain of things to learn; but she finds it more exciting than daunting.

“Dry day means that we don’t let any of the boats head out, most of the locals’ll know already, but there are always a few tour boats who don’t seem to understand.” He shrugs. “And things between the supernatural and the humans get tense every once in a while, things flare up. But then they’ll calm back down in a few months.” She sees his knuckles turn white as he grips the steering wheel and she can’t help but wonder why that upsets him.

“You have tour boats going out in February?” Didn’t seem like prime _anything_ time.

She looks over to see his lips twitching, there also seems to be something in his ears… “Well more scientists than anything else,” he interrupts her train of thought. “We’ve got a lot of localized wildlife on the islands, so people come in to study them.”

“And they don’t know about Haven or anything?” She’d have thought, being scientists, they’d be more observant than that. “And I think you’ve got something…” She starts to reach out to try and grab whatever it might be, but then she pulls back; she can’t imagine him liking people touching him when he can’t see it since that’s all he can go by without touch.

“In my ears? They’re plugs. We’ve got dry days because the Prewitt sisters need to go out into the bay every once in a while, and I’d rather not throw myself into the ocean to try and get closer to their singing.” He sounds like he’s speaking from experience, and she finds herself thinking that would have been a sight to see.

On the other hand… “Wait, are you saying Haven has _mermaids_?”

“Sirens, but yes.” She doesn’t quite know what the difference is, she thought the terms were interchangeable, but she decides not to ask.

The harbor seems to come upon them sooner than she expects—she’s still getting used to small town distances—and as she looks over the boats docked there she can see they all look empty, there aren’t even any dock workers; it’s somewhat eerie.

“Come on,” Wuornos’ voice pulls her out of her musing and she follows after him towards the building next to the main lot. “Beady?” He calls out as they enter.

“In my office Nathan,” a woman calls out.

The inside of the building looks half like a museum, old photos on the walls and bits of boats strewn around on platforms, Audrey only gives it all a cursory glance as they go into a short hallway and then into the door on the right.

Like the main room the walls are scattered with photos, but again she gives them only a cursory glance, more interested in the woman behind the desk and the cradle next to her. She grows more interested as she watches Wuornos go up to the cradle and scoop the baby out and… “Alright, what have you done with Wuornos?” He’s making _faces_. It’s disturbingly cute.

His head shoots up, like he’s forgotten she’s there too, and his ears turn pink. “I like babies.” She’s not sure if he’s defending himself or trying to protest her laughter.

Audrey looks away because if she keeps staring she’ll be on the floor in tears, and instead looks at the woman, Beady, grinning behind the desk. “Let me guess, the chief sent you by to remind me about the dry day?” She asks it like it’s more a cover for Wuornos to see the baby, and if Audrey didn’t know better she’d think Beady is totally right.

“Yeah,” Audrey answers for the both of them, Wuornos still fixated mostly on the baby. “I think the chief did it to get me out of the office.” She finds herself admitting.

“So you must be Haven’s own FBI agent then,” Beady smiles. “Audrey Parker right?”

She would find it slightly disturbing that the woman knew about her if she didn’t know how small Haven was, Audrey had already seen she’d made front page of the _Haven Herald_ this morning. “That’s me,” she smiles.

“Well I already sent out the announcement at dawn, then did a boat check to make sure no one was thinking of sailing out under the radar so I think this time we might actually make it through unscathed.” Audrey finds herself unsurprised when Beady knocks on her desk.

Wuornos bounces the baby, “well that’s good,” he cooes at it and Audrey nearly pulls out her phone to take a video or something, because this is too good to pass up. Again she looks away, focusing on a small collection of photos right next to her.

They’re mostly of boats and crews, but one catches her attention. It’s old, but not as old as some of the others, still in color although they’re faded from sun. In it is the _Cape Rouge_ , Audrey’s certain of that, and a two men, one who looks almost identical to Duke, save that his hair’s shorter and he’s clean shaven; the other looks vaguely familiar but she can’t quite place him. The lookalike is ‘caught’ in a headlock of a woman, a woman who looks almost exactly like her, if with straight brown hair. “Do you know anything about this?” She takes the photo off the wall and shows it to both of them.

Beady looks up, she’s standing next to Wuornos now and she thinks they might have been talking about baby things. “No, sorry. It’s from before I became harbormaster here, you’re welcome to take it out of the frame if you’d like. Nothing really special about that one.”

Which is when Wuornos finally looks up from the baby, a slight frown crossing his face when he sees the photo. Not that Audrey gives it much thought as she walks over to the desk, bending the bits of metal holding the cardboard onto the frame.

There’s writing on the back, like she’d hoped. Picking up the photo she lifts it up and stares, the words not registering right away, because that’s _her_ handwriting, just as slanted and careless as if she’d done it herself, except she _hadn’t_.

After letting herself worry about it for a second she makes herself read the actual words written. _‘The Wonderful Lucy and James with the newly disreputable Captain Duke Crocker, christening the_ Cape Rouge, _October 1983’_. Turning over the photo again Audrey stares at it, noticing the broken bottle of champagne this time sitting on the dock. The three look happy.

“Parker,” Wuornos’ voice, practically in her ear, makes her jump, heart pounding. She whirls around to see him looking at her, concern clear on his face. Beady and the baby have disappeared.

Since she think’s he might pay attention to it now she thrusts the photo in his face. “Who does this look like to you?”

“It looks like, well, you.” She’s slightly suspicious of the lack of surprise in his voice, then again he deals with the supernatural every day so maybe someone looking nearly like her isn’t all that surprising.

Still for her it’s well, massive. “She could be my _mother_ Wuornos.” She’s never known either of her parents, and the idea that this small town in Maine might have been the home of her mother...it’s more than she could have imagined. Haven had its secrets, she just hadn’t thought this was one of them.

-

 _It’s not your mother_ , Nathan wants to tell her. But he’s not sure if it’s the truth or not; maybe it _is_ her mother, each generation returning to Haven for reasons still unknown to even him. Except the thought doesn’t feel right, and he’s lived long enough that he’s learned to trust that sort of instinct. “I don’t think Beady will mind you taking the photo.” The only reason he thinks she hasn’t taken all the photos off her walls already is because they’ve been there for forever.

Parker’s staring at it, something like wonder in her face. “Do you think Duke’ll know anything, it’s his dad in the photo right?”

“Yeah,” Nathan responds absently, mind scrambling a little; he’s never thought of her discovering her past on her own before. Her previous selves had been either too busy or just hadn’t seemed to care; although it seems constant that they do find out that they’ve been in Haven before. But now that she’s found one photo he wonders what else she might dig up; he’s also grateful she hadn’t seemed to notice any of the photos with _him_ in them.

They head out of the office finally, and he probably should stop by the _Rouge_ and bother Duke about putting in his own earplugs; but he’s certain Duke’s going to hole up at the Gull, which should be safe enough. “If you’d like,” he starts to suggest, he pauses for a moment, wondering if he’s really going to do this. Then decides that yes, yes he is. “We could stop by the _Herald_ , see if they might have anything more on her.”

Of course he knows they do, the Colorado Kid murder was all everyone could talk about for a year. Everyone accepted the level of danger inherent in living with the supernatural—even in the lulls—but that death had gone above and beyond the norm. He remembers Lucy crying, something he hadn’t ever seen her do before—she hadn’t been a hard woman, but private, yes she’d been that—not that she’d ever told anyone why he was important to her.

It had been one of the few times she let him hold her, in a way he’d had more rules with Lucy than he had with Sarah, if of a different sort. And even though she’d been crying over the loss of James Nathan had found he couldn’t feel anything but warm affection for her, well that and his own yawning chasm of sorrow over the death of James.

“First your love of babies, and now you’re suggesting slacking off on the clock? Are you _sure_ you’re Detective Wuornos?” He enjoys the teasing note in her voice far more than he should.

But he doesn’t respond, focusing on getting her to the Herald; it’s a fool’s hope but now that he has it he doesn’t want to let it go.

-

Duke stuffs his hands in his coat pockets and pulls his shoulders up to ward off the cold, he might be a werewolf but that didn’t change the fact that winters in Maine were damn cold—and really his core temp was only two or three degrees above a human’s. The earplugs felt strange in his ears like always, the sounds slightly muffled, just enough to be annoying really—it sets his teeth on edge, even if scent’s a stronger sense for him.

Huddled up he makes his way down the dock and towards his truck, he’ll be able to hear the Prewett’s at the Gull, but there the sound will be easier to resist at least. His stride slows slightly when he sees Nathan and Parker walking to the Bronco. Angling himself slightly he tries to avoid them, right now he just wants to be, well not alone, but certainly not with them.

“Hey Crocker,” Parker calls out, she doesn’t sound angry, which is good, but it’s hard to miss the intent that wafts from her on the wind. “I’ve got some questions for you.”

Great, just what he needs. Still, no use trying to avoid them now, it’d just make Nathan chase him down and that tends to make them both cranky. So he heads over, a smile plastered across his face. “Good morning, look is this about those parking tickets? Because I thought we’d dealt with that.”  Parking tickets from Nathan were the bane of his existence, especially because they were as petty as hell; but he found he liked them none the less.

Parker arches an eyebrow, “parking tickets?” She asks, her gaze darting between the two of them. Nathan playing mum on it at least. “No,” she gives a small frown like she’s been given some new piece of info but can’t use it yet. “It’s not about parking tickets." She holds up a photo. “This is your dad right?”

He bites back the automatic ‘no’, it’s a _photograph_ of course it’s not going to be of his dad—hell they hadn’t even had _daguerreotype_ when his dad croaked—and makes himself look at it; although he already has a good idea of what the photo is of.

And indeed when he looks he sees Lucy, James, and himself, standing in front of the _Rouge_ looking like they haven’t a care in the world. He remembers that day, when he’d finally ‘stepped into the modern world’ and bought himself a diesel-engine ship, retiring his dear _Amphitrite_ to the role of pleasure boat. He remembers getting shit-faced drunk the night before and coming up with the name, _Cape Rouge_ , Red Cape, because being drunk made him both the cleverest and most idiotic man alive.

Then again he’d thought being clean shaven was a good idea back then too.

He does his best to wrest himself from those thoughts and focus on the _now_. “Yeah,” the lie tastes strange on his tongue. “It’s my dad.” Duke’d like to think he’d at least be a better father than Simon had been.

“Do you remember this woman? I think she might be my mother.” Parker sounds so _earnest_ , so curious.

Without even thinking Duke looks to Nathan, arching an eyebrow ‘what do you want me to tell her?’ Even if Duke was Haven born and bred, Nathan’s had more experience with the woman who always returns. Lucy had always known she’d been in Haven before, but didn’t remember it, nothing more than that—and he didn’t even know how she’d discovered _that_.

Nathan, for once, looks lost and shrugs. Well then, if that’s how they’re going to play it—although he definitely intends to corner Nathan the next time he’s at the Gull and they’re going to _talk_. “Not really, I was pretty young. But, I do remember the day he died.” Reaching out he taps James’ face. He doesn’t think he can ever forget, Lucy had cried—with huge gasping sobs that had twisted his gut—as Nathan had held her. And that night Duke’d had gotten her drunk, giving her some oblivion, at least for a short time.

And then she’d vanished the next morning.

“And your dad? Is he still alive?”

At least Duke doesn’t have to lie about that one. “No, he died a long time ago, Boating accident,” well that part’s a lie, his father had never set foot on a boat in his life—it’s part of the reason Duke fled to the sea—but it’s easier than the truth; that he just doesn’t know, or much care, how his father died.

Parker’s face falls and he has to fight the urge to try and comfort her, he needs to be keeping his _distance_. “Alright, well thanks. And if you remember anything…”

“I’ll let you know,” he finishes, at least giving her a comforting smile.

“Oh, you know it’s a ‘dry day’ right?” Parker’s nose scrunches slightly, like she can’t believe she’s saying that.

It certainly makes his smile kick up. “Yes, ‘bout to head to the Gull. Got my plugs in and everything,” knowing it will distract her he continues. “Don’t want to reprise Nathan’s performance last time.” He waggles his eyebrows.

“Hey!” Nathan flushes and Duke grins.

Parker’s eyebrows rise, and Duke’s not going to pass up the chance to embarrass Nathan. “Go on.” Like he needs any prompting.

Nathan’s expression turns thunderous. “Speak and I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Duke resists the urge to laugh because despite the fact that Nathan’s a _fallen angel,_ who, by his own admission, lived in Hell, he doesn’t do very well in the ‘torture’ department; at least not compared to Duke’s childhood, both in Haven and at sea.

But if the way Parker’s eyes narrow she’s at least on his side on this. “Now Detective Wuornos,” oh, it’s kind of amazing how sweet she sounds. “I’m fairly certain that’s a threat _and_ abuse of police authority. Go on Duke.”

Now he does grin, because it’s also kind of amazing how Nathan just deflates. But Duke decides to throw him at least a partial bone. “Well Nathan forgot his ear plugs the last time the Prewett’s sang and decided to take a dive right into the ocean. He looked, ah, quite rumpled when one of the Glendowers finally got him away from them.” Not that Duke had complained in the least at the sight.

Nathan’s back to blushing again, because really, ‘rumpled’ is about the least debauched word Duke could have used—although clearly less had happened than Duke thought had if Nathan hasn’t had sex since Sarah—but it’s still interested Parker, from the appraising look in her eye.

Which is his signal to go he’s sure. “Well, glad I could add some interest to your day agent Parker, but if you don’t need me I’ve got to get to the Gull. Tomorrow’s taco Tuesday and I’ve got to start my meats.”

“Seems a bit elaborate for tacos.” She responds.

Duke tries not to be insulted, she probably doesn’t know any better. “Then clearly you haven’t had the right tacos. Stop by tomorrow and I’ll blow your mind.” With that he decides to beat a hasty retreat, all the better to get away and go focus on something simple, like cooking.

-

The look still in Parker’s eye is enough that Nathan sends a glare at Duke’s retreating back. ‘Rumpled’ his ass. “So,” Parker begins walking, not that it takes him long to catch up. “The sirens got to you last time huh?”

His ears are probably burning again, and he bites back his far too sharp retort of her apparently not even knowing what sirens _are_ . “I already told you that,” he protests, if not in so many words. “It really wasn’t as fun as Duke makes it out to be,” he might not have been able to feel the freezing cold water, or the wounds the Prewetts had made in their attempts to get his clothes off—although by the time Cole had gotten to him they’d let off on that front—but it certainly hadn’t been _enjoyable_. Lucky him that the Prewetts at least preferred more willing partners.

“Still,” and Parker is grinning. “Definitely not the sort of thing I’d expect in Haven.” He’s not exactly sure _what_ she’s fishing for more info on, but he can at least distract her for a time.

“Didn’t you want to head to the _Herald_?” He hadn’t thought looking at her past would be the lesser of two evils.

Her eyes narrow as she climbs into the passenger seat, clearly getting that he’s distracting her. “Yes,” she finally replies, going along with him for the time being; although he has a good idea that this conversation is far from over—but what more they could talk about is beyond him.

The radio’s only full of the usual chatter, nothing too wild happening, and no one calling for backup. So he lets Parker stew in her own thoughts as he drives, he’s certainly got enough to think about for a while yet.

-

Audrey chews on her thumb as they drive to the _Herald_ . Duke had been lying to her, she’s not sure about _what_ , but something in his story was off; especially with how quickly he’d jumped to trying to embarrass Wuornos. Maybe she’ll find something better at the _Herald_.

She has a pretty good idea that the gist of what he’d said was the truth, and at the very least James’ death would certainly be in the paper.

Pulling the photo out again she unfolds it and stares. It’s almost eerie how similar she and Lucy look alike, she knows that looks travel through genetics but she doesn’t think she’s ever seen a daughter look almost _exactly_ like her mother. Of course the photo quality itself isn’t the best, at least compared to what Audrey’s used to these days, so maybe it’s only the graininess of the photo that has her thinking they could be identical twins.

Her eyes flick to James, and what was his relationship to Lucy? Friend? Husband? Sibling? Lucy certainly didn’t look old enough to have a son his age. From the way he was leaning into Lucy she could tell they were close. It made her sad looking at the photo and realizing that everyone in it was dead.

The Bronco jerks to a stop and glancing up Audrey realizes they're at the _Herald_. The lack of conversation was sort of shocking, but she also finds she didn’t mind. Her thoughts might not have gotten much of anywhere, but she at least has more questions to ask.

Inside the _Herald_ doesn’t look like she expected it to. More clutter, fewer reporters dashing to and fro—then again how many reporters did Haven really need?

“Hey Dave,” Wuornos greets, not waiting for an invitation before going through the partition.

Dave looks up and grins. “Nathan! Finally come to give us that history piece?” And another thing Audrey’s curious about, what about Wuornos makes him a good resource for Haven history? So far he hasn’t seemed all that interested in it; she dated a historian once and all he could do was talk about all the historical landmarks in Boston, not exactly what she’d been looking for but still interesting. Maybe it has something to do with what he is, although what history and complete nerve damage have to do with each other is beyond her.

Wuornos shakes his head. “You know me Dave, I’ll never talk. No it’s Parker who’s got some questions for you.”

Right, questions. She holds out the photo for Dave. “I was hoping you could pull up anything you might have from 1983 about a woman named Lucy or a man named James.”

Dave takes the photo but barely looks at it, instead she catches him throwing a glance at Wuornos, just like Duke had, and what the hell is up with that?

At least this time Wuornos doesn’t shrug, and Dave quickly looks away, focusing his attention on his laptop. “Well I’ll see what we’ve got, might not be much though.” Well it’ll be more than she has now, so she’s not going to be picky.

“Thanks.” Looking around she realizes that besides them the place is empty. “Where’s your brother, Vince?” Out of the corner of her eye she sees Wuornos give a little nod and she’s glad she got it right—Haven seems like the sort of place where people don’t like being called the wrong name.

“He’s out getting some photos for an article we’re doing tomorrow, it’s about the local farms.” The sheer mundaneness of the topic draws her aback. She would have thought Haven’s only paper would be more...interesting than that, especially when surrounded by the supernatural like it is.

“Ah, here we are.” Dave’s voice pulls her out of her thoughts and she looks at the screen to see a list of results. Without much thought she ignores the birth announcements she sees, not exactly relevant. But that still leaves half the results on the first page alone to dig through, and there are at least ten more pages listed at the bottom.

“Can we narrow it down more? Duke said that James died in October.” Well not exactly, but it had been easy to guess.

Next to her Dave stiffens, and she’s certain it’s Wuornos’ eyes she feels on her neck, yet he types that into the search bar and after a second there’s only one result. Without prompting Dave clicks the link bringing up a scan of the article.

_Who Killed the Colorado Kid?_

It made front page news from the look of it; which doesn’t exactly surprise her. The photo is something of another gut punch however.

James’ body slumped against a wooden pylon, Lucy standing a few feet away, her expression too shocked to be truly sad. Behind here are various people, all looking mostly shocked or scared. One of them....

“Can you print out a copy for me?” The question she wants to ask would best be asked when they’re alone so she’ll wait, but she wants to read the article still.

“Of course,” the ancient printer—it looks like it came from 1983 itself—wheezes into life and soon spits out a few pages.

She nearly runs over and grabs them, tossing a smile Dave’s way she grabs Wuornos’ arm and starts dragging him to the door. “Thanks Dave, see you around.”

On the steps they nearly run into Vince, who raises surprised eyebrows and says “good morning.”

Christ is it only still morning? “Morning,” she replies. “But we’ll have to talk later Vince, places to be.” She gives him the best smile she can, wanting to be on her way, but not exactly wanting to alienate him.

Wuornos seems befuddled by this turn of events and lets her drag him all the way to the Bronco.

Once they’re both inside she finds she can’t wait any longer and shoves the printout into his face. “That’s you behind Lucy isn’t it?” She isn’t exactly angry, but certainly resigned—she’s only been here a few days and she’d expected Haven to give her all it’s secrets in one go? Although this one stings a little.

He at least turns his head to look her in the eye, it doesn’t escape her that he doesn’t even glance at the photo, “yes.”

The photo in the _Herald_ is of much better quality than the one she’d found in Beady’s office. So it’s unmistakable that Lucy looks like her, and that the man standing behind her is Nathan Wuornos, from all appearances having never aged a day.

“You knew her and you didn’t say anything.” Something that might be unhappiness—well bully for him—crosses his face at her flat tone.

He reaches a hand out to touch her, then pulls away, hand clenching into a fist. “Not in the way you’re hoping Parker, we worked together sometimes; but she was closer to the Chief than me.” She wonders if that’s why he doesn’t like her. “Really out of all of us James knew her best, and well…” His eyes fall to the article.

He was dead. “How old _are_ you?” If he hasn’t aged in twenty seven years, well, guessing his age is sort of impossible.

She sees the pulse in his neck jump out as he grips the steering wheel, knuckles turning white—she lets herself be briefly distracted by trying to imagine what it’d be like to hold something and not knowing. “One hundred and fifty five,” now _his_ tone is flat; is he trying to protect himself by sounding unemotional? Or something else?

Not that she thinks about that for long, his age rattling her brain. Women who can control the weather and make it rain frogs, men who can push you with their minds, those are one thing. Immortality thought? That’s… “ _What_ are you?”

“In the simplest terms? A spirit stuck in a human body.” He sounds so nonchalant about it, that for a moment his words don’t really register.

“So what? You were dead before you were alive?” Her head hurts, and maybe it’s too much for her to take in all at once, but she finds she doesn’t care.

Still, her words get a twitch of a smile out of him. “Not really, I was alive before I became corporal, just...in a different way.”

And yeah, Audrey thinks she’s reached her limit. “Let’s head back to the station Wuornos.” It’s not exactly an olive branch, but she is offering him an out for now. She’s not really sure if anger and forgiveness really work the same way they do after you’ve known someone for a long time; they’ve only known each other for a few days and really she hardly knows him beyond the professional, and even there their bond is still only really starting.

Maybe he doesn’t have to apologize over keeping the fact that he sort of knew Lucy from her, in all fairness Audrey’d only found out about the other woman barely an hour ago. But she also knows she’s allowed to be angry at him for it.

The Bronco rumbles into life and after a glance Wuornos pulls into traffic. “She’s not your mother.” After their last silent trip she’d expected more of the same, so his out of the blue comment surprises her. Still she knows it’s an apology of sorts.

But it makes her look hard at the photos of Lucy she has. If this woman isn’t her mother then is there a connection at all? Or is she grasping at straws?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a whole lot of Duke in this one, sorry. There'll definitely be more of him later, don't worry.
> 
> But also important things! So I hope it's an okay trade off.
> 
> (see you on the 14th!)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before I forget _again_ I would be remiss in not mentioning [Akafinndameron](http://akafinndameron.tumblr.com/) and [Ivorygraves](http://ivorygraves.tumblr.com/) my totally awesome ladies, sounding boards, and all around cheerleaders. Thanks.

_Two days_ , that’s how long Audrey’s been trying to get Chief Wuornos to talk about Lucy, and he’s been stonewalling her at every turn, _“I ain’t gonna trot out my whole story just to satisfy your curiosity Agent Parker, and if you keep pushing, well, I don’t have to let you work cases.”_ , it galls her a little that that’s enough to get her to stop, at least with him.

Wuornos—and she wonders if he and the Chief are really related now, maybe they are just not in the way she’d assumed—is still fair game, and he does sort of answer her questions; even if he doesn’t look all that happy to. A fact she hasn’t quite gotten the reason for yet.

“What did Lucy do in Haven?” She finds herself asking as they make their way to their newest case. They’re out by the docks again, and she has to wonder if it’s the ‘seedy’ area of Haven since they keep ending up here on cases.

He hunches into his coat, certainly not trying to get out of the late February chill. “What you’ve decided to do, work cases and try to help people. Smooth feathers.” Audrey’s not sure if she should be pleased or not by that. “What’ve we got Eleanor?” He does sound a bit too happy about the case, probably grateful for the distraction.

The ME, and maybe that first day it should have tipped Audrey off that Haven _had_ an ME and not a coroner, gives a wan sort of smile and launches into a description of bones breaking at perfect ninety degree angles, and somehow the man’s still alive. Audrey’s seen a lot of bad shit in the FBI, yet every new case in Haven seems to take the cake.

And while she’d like to look more into Lucy and generally find out everything she can she’s certainly not going to put it before a case, especially not one like this.

-

Duke would like to say, for the record—even if it’s in his own head—that he’s 95% against this. Smuggling and couriering are still his bread and butter when it comes to work, the Gull and cooking are _fun_ but side projects more than anything, and if word gets out that he let himself, and his job, be used to catch and arrest someone—even if that someone really deserves it—well, good for business it is not.

On the other hand it’s not exactly the most questionable thing he’s done, and Haven keeps to itself on the gossip/rumor front, so maybe it’s not worth dwelling on.

So maybe when he gets back to the Gull he tosses Alex out of the kitchen and takes over cooking, but really, it’s better than beating the shit out of Nathan right now. So he’ll get his frustration and worry out any damn way he pleases thank you very much.

Of course the main causes of those worries and frustrations come into the bar about two hours later. Duke bites back a sigh as he listens to them take a table and settle in. Maybe if he plies them with food and drink they’ll leave and he can plot about actually going out and doing some work—a tiny voice in the back of his head reminds him that feeding someone is how to start proving he’s a good mate and he smothers it ruthlessly.

So he whips up some pancake batter for Nathan, adding a dash of cardamom just because he enjoys befuddling the other man. As for Parker...her palette so far seems about average, and well, he does still want to blow her mind—she hadn’t come for taco Tuesday, probably too caught up with work, figures—so something decadent.

He finds some day old brownies and scoops some ice cream onto them, slathering the lot of them with caramel sauce and some local sea salt. Nathan’s pancakes get drenched in butter and syrup and they look about as good as they’ll be on such short notice. Picking up both plates he heads out, giving Alex a nudge and letting her know she can have the kitchen back, he stops to pick up a ginger beer and water—he’s not sure what sort of drinks Parker likes—at the bar then makes his way over to Nathan and Parker’s table.

“Pancakes and dessert surprise,” he says as he places each in front of them. Setting down drinks next.

The two of them look at him like he’s grown a second head, and well, he does a quick check himself because this is Haven after all, maybe he has. But he hasn’t so instead he gives them both a look. “What?”

Parker looks contemplative, but appreciative too, picking up her silverware and figuring out where best to start eating. Nathan however narrows his eyes. “You want something.”

Duke falls into the extra seat and does offended very well. “I do not, well, maybe for you to stop dragging me into cases. That’d be nice.” Duke deals with enough excitement in his own job, he doesn’t need to be pulled into more.

A moan of appreciation cuts their argument short and they’re both looking at Parker who’s got her eyes closed and a happy expression on her face, “this is amazing.” He does let himself feel some smug pride over that, and he hadn’t even been _trying_. Her eyes open and she clearly eyes Nathan’s own food. “I want to try.” Her fork shoots out.

Only for Nathan to tug the plate towards himself defensively, but from the way Parker gives without much fuss it’s a feint, and Duke has to admit it’s an almost perfect underhanded way to get Nathan to eat.

And yes, the curious and slightly flabbergasted look as Nathan takes his first bite and gets an unexpected taste is worth it.

“What did you put in them?” He doesn’t sound accusatory, but Duke can tell he wants to be.

Duke gives him a magnanimous smile. “Now that would be telling, you have to guess first.”

The look in Parker’s eye means Duke should probably amscray, but he can’t think of a good excuse too and he hates being a heel. So he resigns herself to whatever plotting she might get up to.

Or maybe he can distract them both with other things. “I’m headed out of town in a day or two.” At least he certainly is now, even if he doesn’t have a job exactly lined up—there are a few he can probably get, even at this short a notice. “Just in case you both decide to try and drag me into your next case.”

They’re both looking at him again like he’s grown a second head and seriously, what’s wrong with this?

“Is that usual?” Parker asks, arching an eyebrow at Nathan.

Nathan’s brows sink and he’s looking studiously at his own food. “No,” which is actually the truth.

“Yet I’ve so far gotten tangled into _two_ investigations. At this rate I think I deserve ‘consultant’ status and hazard pay.” It’s a joke, and he hopes that it doesn’t plant ideas because, no, it’s a _joke_.

Thankfully the idea only seems to make Nathan surlier, from the way he’s practically stabbing his pancakes.

“Alright, so, leaving. Should I bother asking for how long?” Parker does look contemplative, but more in the way like she’s been handed a new puzzle piece and trying to figure out how it works.

Duke usually doesn’t like to guesstimate with this stuff, on the other hand guesstimation is all you really have when you’re doing inter-dimensional travelling; time tends to get weird. “A week to a month,” he sea-saws his hand. “So, no more investigations for me in the meantime.” He finally stands, grateful that he sort of has an excuse. “I hope Haven doesn’t burn down while I’m gone.” It’s an honest hope too, during the rough patches like this Haven burning to the ground sometimes seems like a real possibility.

“We’ll do our best,” Parker promises, a wan smile on her face; he even knows she means it, so earnest and well meaning it should set his teeth on edge, not interest him.

Nathan’s silent, but that’s nothing new from him. And it does makes Duke feel strange to basically feel the other man’s gaze as he makes his way to the back room of the Gull.

With the door closed nearly all the sound is cut off, modern soundproofing is amazing that way. He picks up an old phone, the number he dials is one of many he’s memorized over the years.

The woman who answers it sounds gruff and vaguely unhappy, but that’s nothing new. “Hæ Aina, ertu með neina vinnu?” His Norse might be rusty, but it’s not like her English will be any better.

-

Nathan lingers in the Bronco outside his house, not quite willing to go in just yet. Thoughts whirling around in his head faster than he can deal with them.

 _Why did Duke tell us he was leaving? What was it about Parker that got to him?_ To name some of the main ones.

On the Parker front, well sooner or later _she_ gets to him, to varying degrees. But there seemed to be an ephemeral _something_ about her this time around that was different from before. Like there were glimmers of past versions in Parker as she is now, it’s...hard to resist.

It’s not that he _wants_ her to be like herself in the past, even if he had loved Sarah as best he could and he’d felt certain she’d loved him back, it just wouldn’t be the same. No, Parker is Parker, but the facts that he can see these former facets of her is new.

As for Duke, well that man’s always confused Nathan, from the first day they’d met. He feels almost certain that there’s something he’s managed to miss, even after a hundred years of knowing him—you’d think he’d be better at it considering how long he’d been a detective—but it also feels like that’s a given when it comes to Duke.

He tilts his head back and wishes he could feel the strain of muscles again, the crick he would get in his neck if he kept this position for too long. But like always there’s nothing.

Regardless he really needs to get his head back on straight, focus. Not letting himself think too much about it—he’s liable to talk himself out of this if he does—he picks up his phone and dials. Feeling committed to the idea by the time the phone starts ringing.

“Hi you’ve reached the voicemail of Claire Callahan, I’m either away from my office or with another patient, so just leave a message with your name or number and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” Nathan gives a small sigh, he’d been hoping to catch her. He glances at the clock and realizes it’s a lot later than he thought it was, no wonder she’s not in.

A second later he hears the tone. “Hey Claire it’s me Nathan, I wanted to see if I could make an appointment with you in the next week.” She already has his number so instead of rattling it off he hangs up.

Now he just has to wait, something like anxiety knots his stomach—it’s strange sometimes what he can and can’t feel—maybe as sure a sign as any he needs to talk to Claire again. At the very least he hopes she can give him guidance of some sort, for the first time in well, his entire life, he feels like he’s floundering. And he’ll certainly take any help he can get. Duke would probably be asking if he was okay if he knew _Nathan_ was asking for help.

-

Claire’s office is designed to sooth, a fact Nathan knows as he walks into it; which of course doesn’t stop it from calming him some. Like always his eyes drift to the windows, closed against the chill, with their view of the harbor.

“Take a seat Nathan, I’ll be right with you.” Claire’s back is to him, typing something up on the computer.

After closing the door he does, putting his coffee on one of the coasters scattered about, the couch has always _looked_ comfy but like before it’s just a nothing to him. Again his eyes go to the windows, they’re far enough away that the harbor is vaguely indistinct; but he knows it like the back of his hand, and even at this distance he can tell which boats are in and which are out—the _Rouge_ is among the out, and Nathan has no idea when it will be back. Which itches at his mind.

“Alright.” he jerks his head to look at Claire, she’s standing across from him, her hands outstretched palms up. “Are you ready to talk?”

In a way doing a session after taking her hands is harder, living without fear for a few hours can do that. Still he reaches out, clasping his hands in hers. On his side there’s no warmth of touch, or any sensation that might signify her doing her mojo; but he can still tell the difference in his own brain.

When she pulls away she sits in her chair, her cheeks flush and her eyes slightly glassy; he’d asked her about it once and she’d explained that eating fear was pleasurable in a way, although not arousing. “Ooof, you weren’t lying about needed to talk. Where do you want to start?”

He picks up his coffee and sips, enjoying the bitterness with the hint of cream and the hazelnut syrup the barista had put in it. “Audrey Parker,” and it a way it’s a relief that admitting that doesn’t terrify him.

Claire doesn’t take notes, but she still nods. “What about her?”

Nathan doesn’t respond right away, half expecting there to be more questions, then recalling that’s not exactly Claire’s style. “I just…she’s barely been here a week and she’s already dug up more about herself than she ever has before.” She might not be immortal like him and Duke, but Claire has her own memories of Lucy, and he’s told her a lot in the smattering of sessions they’ve had.

“Is that a bad thing?” His eyes track Claire as she gets up and turns on the small kettle she has, scooping some tea leaves—jasmine it smells like—and putting them in a pot. “Do you _want_ her to remember who she was before?”

“But isn’t it pointless whether she remembers or not? She’ll still go at the end of October and when she comes back she won’t remember any of it.” The bitterness in his voice hardly surprises him.

She gets out a mug. “It doesn’t matter what I think Nathan, it’s what _you_ think. So,” she turns her head to look at him. “Do you think it’s pointless if she remembers who she used to be? Are you hoping for something in particular to happen?” There’s a edge to the last question, one that bites deep because it’s a sort of truth.

“I don’t want her to be Sarah,” he bites out. “I don’t want her to feel obligated to me because of our shared history. She’s Parker now, but…” he might be without fear but it doesn’t make it any easier to say. “This time around I’m seeing...parts of older hers. And, I keep finding myself hoping that just maybe there’s something I’ve missed that will stop her from going.” Six times he’s done this now, he’s had his heart broken to varying degrees five of them and he doesn’t want a sixth; but also he wants those far off looks Parker gets to go away. He knows her past bothers her, and he doesn’t like her suffering like this; even if she brought it upon herself. “Not that I have a choice.”

The kettle beeps and Claire pours the water into the pot, bringing it and the mug back with her. “You don’t have a choice? I don’t think I’ve heard you say that before.”

Despite everything he finds himself giving a soft huff of laughter, because it’s either that or let himself feel defeat. He knows he’s going to answer the question, but he still stalls with another sip of coffee. “I’m. _Humans_ are the ones who got free will. My entire path is already laid out before me, I only get to walk it. There’s the illusion of choice,” he picks up his coffee and gives it an emphatic shake. “But that’s all it is, an illusion.” And hadn’t it rankled, to learn that God had _planned_ their rebellion. That those seeds had been placed in him at his creation, it had only been a question of _when_.

“You know,” Claire sounds almost amused. “There are a lot of people now who think free will doesn’t exist for humans either.” She waves a hand. “But that’s not important, if you want to look more into it yourself I’ll gladly give you a list. So you feel powerless to do anything about Audrey leaving. You clearly don’t like it.”

More coffee and raised eyebrows because _of course_ he doesn’t like it. “That and, I don’t like feeling powerless.” He never has, at least not in important ways.

Claire nods, “but from my perspective it seems the only thing stopping you is your own perceived barriers. I mean you’re not technically just an angel anymore Nathan, I’ve perused some books and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any mention of an angel becoming corporeal like you have. It obviously cost you something,” she just gives a small nod in his general direction. “But have you ever thought that doing it gained you something as well?”

Internally he feels flustered, because he sort of has, but he’s never put much stock in it. He tells her as much, continuing with “I mean how do I _prove_ that sort of thing to myself?”

“It is slightly daunting. Maybe start with Audrey? You know more about her than probably anyone else here in town, I sure you could help her more than you already are. Start small and maybe you’ll believe you can stop her from going.”

“I, I don’t know,” his gut twists—it always strikes him odd that he can ‘feel’ that—“I think I would be scared.”

Claire gives a small smile. “You’re not right now.” She reminds. “Is there anything else you’d like to talk about? Any other problems? Or are we going to stick to the real meaty topics today?”

It gets a brief laugh out of him, which makes him feel a little better. There _is_ something else though he wants to talk about. “Duke.”

Claire makes a thoughtful noise and takes a sip of her tea. “What about him? Has your relationship grown more antagonistic lately?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “He left a few days ago, and, he _told_ me he was going. It, it was _weird_. Made me feel, odd.”

“Odd because it was unexpected, or odd because it raised something you didn’t expect in you?” He thinks if she were the sort to take notes she’d be doing it furiously right now.

His face falls, he does his best to hide it behind his to go cup, not that he thinks he’s fooling Claire. “Both? It just, he goes off all the time and hasn’t ever said anything about it before. I mean he had an excuse, he said he didn’t want me and Parker pulling him in on another case. But still it made me feel.” He lowers his cup and makes a face not sure how to describe it.

“Why have you and Parker been pulling him onto cases? He’s certainly not what most people would call a good man.”

Setting his now empty to go cup down he gestures at her tea. “Could I have some?” She gives a brief nod and gets up to grab another cup. “And it’s more Parker’s doing than mine. But with the last one, I knew Duke could get onto the boat, he’s done deals with Richards before. It was a way to stop something horrible from happening to the town.” He’s willing to do a lot to make sure Haven stays safe.

“So is Audrey pulling him onto cases a bad thing? You have known him longer, but maybe you’ve been letting your past color your current life, you pride yourself on being observant, but that doesn’t mean you can’t miss things.”

A spark of anger curls in his chest at her questioning him like that—no matter than he’d been thinking the same thing only a few days before—and he resists the urge to pick up the cup she’d poured for him, afraid he’d break it. Instead he closes his eyes for a few moments and breaths, trying to calm himself, Claire keeps silent, letting him work through it on his own.

“I’d like to think that, having known him longer means that I know him _better_.” Duke was a man as amoral as they got, he had a code of his own, but it was far outside the norm for humans—then again the man wasn’t human, so why expect him to uphold human values? To be fair Nathan finds himself thinking he’s a _person_ from time to time, and even with all the supernatural in town their general morality has probably colored his own, at least in law areas.

Claire shrugs and doesn’t say anything. Clearly wanting him to work through this all himself. Which he can appreciate, even if he doesn’t exactly _like_ it. After a few minutes of silence however she does speak. “Alright, well we can try and focus on that in another session maybe. And I do think for the moment you and I should see each other once a week Nathan, I think it would do you a lot of good to speak about all this. But, going back to what you said before, that Duke telling you he was leaving made you feel strange. Do you think you could try to articulate that?”

“Maybe,” he gives a gusty sigh and finally lets himself pick up the tea cup, taking a small sip and savoring the floral explosion of taste on his tongue.

He leans back, only stopping when his head doesn’t move back anymore, letting himself stretch out slightly. “It, I,” another sigh. “I don’t know.”

Something he doesn’t notice makes Claire sit up slightly straighter, “lucky for you that’s time.” Her lips twitch. “So how about you think about it until our next session. Do you want me to call Garland and have him come get you?” One of the caveats to losing your fear to her is that you’re not allowed to do anything important afterwards.

He finds himself shaking his head. “Parker.” He rattles off her number, noticing the way Claire looks vaguely approving as she dials. It doesn’t even really register to him until she’s chatting with Parker why she might be approving.

Little steps, he promises himself.

-

Audrey hadn’t exactly been expecting the call from Wuornos’ _therapist_ , but on the other hand Audrey’s got nothing better to do with her day—she doesn’t work unless Wuornos is working. And she finds herself curious.

So she walks, she still doesn’t have a replacement car, so she’s glad it’s close by, to the building and after a few flights of stairs knocks on what she hopes is the right door.

A pretty redheaded woman with a bright smile opens the door, who must be Claire from the phone. “Thanks for coming on such short notice agent Parker. So, Nathan,” she gestures to the man himself, who was lazing on the couch, looking far too good in Audrey’s opinion. “Isn’t allowed to make any decision more major than what he’s going to eat for,” she glances at her watch. “The next hour and a half to two hours. Otherwise he’s liable to jump off a cliff because it looks fun.”

Frowning Audrey goes and stands next to him. “What happened?”

“Oh I did,” Claire says cheerfully as she cleans up. “I’m a phobophage, I eat fear. Which comes in handy in my line of work, it just takes some time to wear off is all.”

Blinking at the other woman in something like surprise—this is the first supernatural who’s just out and out said what they were and it’s taken Audrey aback—Audrey finds herself grabbing Nathan’s arm, his bare arm, and hauling him up. “Alright, thanks I think.”

Nathan’s steady at least, he gives a little wave to Claire and heads out. “See you next week.”

Audrey doesn’t stick around to see how Claire responds, quickly catching up to Nathan and sticking her hand out. “Keys.”

He _pouts_ at her, but hands them over, clearly knowing he’s impaired—more than usual at least—and not much liking it. “So you’re really without fear right now?” It’s something that Audrey would think is a _good_ thing, being without fear would do wonders for a lot of things she’s sure.

“Yep,” he drawls, climbing into the passenger seat of the Bronco and giving a slight frown as he sits there; probably not used to that spot.

Not that she’s any more comfortable in the diver’s seat. As it is she can just barely reach the pedals. Luckily they don’t have to go that far, she hopes.

“So your place? Or do you want to get something to eat?” She glances at him, only to look back when she realizes he’s staring at her.

“You’re pretty.” He says it slowly, like he’s drunk, but it just catches her off guard on principle.

“Thank...you?” She’s blushing, she can feel it. On the other hand she’s just...uncertain...about it all. There’s no doubt that Wuornos is an attractive man, but she’s not going to be here much longer—she’s damn well going to get more time though if she can. Yet, even with their stumble last week there’s something about him…

His blue eyes seem more intense than usual as he keeps looking at her. “And, I’m sorry I’m keeping things from you.” She does her best not to frown, there’s _more_ ? “I’m just, usually so scared. And, I” he leans in slightly closer and she wonders if he’s going to kiss her. “I don’t want you to feel obligated, to me.” He says it in a bit of a rush. “If you like me I want it to be because _you_ like me.”

Which is possibly the...sweetest thing someone’s ever said to her. Even if his words are also confusing the hell out of her right now. “Well you’re not afraid right now right? You could tell me now,” not the most subtle of fishing for sure.

His smile turns sad. “Yes but,” he gives a shake of his head. “Small steps. I, I haven’t done it this way. It’s...new.”

It’s very hard to resist her usual impulse to push, she knows if she did she’d probably get everything she wants to know and more; yet, Wuornos isn’t himself right now and taking advantage of that goes against what she’s willing to do. “But you promise? We’ll talk more?”

The nod he gives her is far too solemn, which makes her smile, and he surprises her by holding up his pinky. Somehow the idea of pinky promises makes her more embarrassed than his admission that he finds her pretty. Still she links her pinky with his.

“I promise,” he tells her giving their joined fingers a slight bounce. “I don’t want you to leave again.”

She frowns as she pulls away her pinky, focusing on starting the Bronco and getting it into gear and on the road. “I’m holding you too that,” she glances at him, he’s still watching her, although not as intensely as before. “...Nathan.”

His smile shouldn’t cause a curling warmth in her, but it does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes there is a difference between and ME and a coroner (the main one being that an ME has to have medical training a coroner doesn't).
> 
> Pancakes w/ cardamom and a little vanilla are amazing (they're the default I make now), and the brownie thing is also delicious.
> 
> Duke's speaking Icelandic, btw. (basically translates into 'Hey Aina, got any work for me?' at least to google translate)
> 
> And Claire! She'll definitely be making a lot of appearances as time goes on. Her being a phobophage is totally a reference, but also appropriate for being a therapist.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are getting the chapter early because I've got no idea what my day's going to be like tomorrow. So yay!

Even if it’s the dead of night Duke can at least tell Haven hadn’t burned down, or been obliterated, or any other such tragedy, since he’d left. Which is a nice sort of relief. Haven’s _his_ , in an odd sort of way, he’d hate for anything to happen to it. It should be telling that he’s _trusted_ someone else to ‘look after’ it, but he chooses not to think about it.

He ties the _Rouge_ up to her slip and heads to bed. He’s got work to do in the morning.

He wakes with the dawn, dressing in shabby clothes, and eating a hearty breakfast.

Stuffing some cash in his pants pocket—and he’s got a good sized chest of gold now to start funneling into his bank account—he leaves the _Rouge_ and heads out towards the other end of the docks.

He nods and says hello to the workers he passes, sure that by the time he returns the whole town’ll know he’s back. Not that it matters. Walking down one of the other slips he hails the _Georgette_ , “hey Carl, mind if I hitch a ride out?”

The fisherman in question looks at him in askance, but then again it’s not the first time Duke’s made the request. As is expected of him, Duke pulls out the cash—it’s only a hundred dollars—and gives it a wave.

“Alright, just don’t get in the way.” Carl replies gruffly.

Duke bites back a smile, like he’s forgetful enough to get in the way, and climbs aboard, tossing the cash to Carl and settling at the stern, behind the cabin.

Ten minutes later they’re headed out and Duke closes his eyes, enjoying the feel of spring in Haven. There might still be a bite in the air, but everything’s growing again, and the greenness of it all floods his nose. The roar of the engine soon becomes white noise to his ears and he can hear the calls of the gulls and other birds around them.

They pick up speed once they pass the lighthouse and the green fades as the ocean fills the air. As they head north Duke sees Kick’em Jenny Neck, and off in the east the lump that is Little Tall. Another ten minutes pass and soon they’re in the real open waters, the islands now behind them.

Shortly after the engine cuts. “Thanks Carl,” Duke calls out as he slips his shoes off, grabbing the rope he’d stuffed in his other pocket he ties them together, then around his waist, before climbing onto the railing and diving in.

As expected the water’s cold, but the good, bracing sort, and turning himself back towards the islands he starts swimming. The motions familiar enough that his mind can wander some.

Like he’d hoped Aina had plenty of work for him, the usual courier work he’d done hundreds of times before. It hadn’t taken as long as he’d thought it would—long enough, he'd hoped, to get Haven, well Nathan and Parker, out of his system—so when he’d ended back up on Earth he’d put himself in the Celebes Sea and puttered around, picking up odd jobs and meeting up with some old friends in Indonesia.

Of course as March’s full moon grew closer Duke found himself longing for home—damn sentimentality, the _Rouge_ should have been his home—a tiny part of him feeling some guilt at not having done his yearly cleanings at the usual time.

Forcing himself to think on the present for a moment he orients himself, making sure he hasn’t swum _completely_ off course. He hasn’t, thankfully; ending up between Atlas Island and Logan’s Island just like he wants.

Angling towards Atlas, which has great views of the mainland—and he wonders if Parker’s gotten a tour of the islands yet, or if Nathan’s keeping her on the mainland—he starts counting coves and inlets.

After seventeen he swims into the eighteenth, a well sheltered, if small, bay. And there, anchored right where he’d left her, his dear _Amphitrite_.

Getting closer he can see the little clipper has survived the winter storms with the expected amount of damage, and hopefully her sails are still in good condition in the hold, otherwise he’d have to go _back_ to the mainland to get her towed in, and that would be a pain in the ass.

Climbing aboard he finds himself right at home; untying his shoes he leaves them to dry in the sun, shucking his shirt as well as he heads bellow.

Returning with the sails and rope he checks both over thoroughly before getting to work.

It’s a sort of meditation to run up the sails and get his lines in order, familiar work he’s done for well over a century. Although like every spring the lines rough his hands anew, his callouses having healed.

Once he makes sure everything is as it should be, and that _Amphitrite_ is truly seaworthy—she is and he feels some relief that this won’t be the year he has to give her up—then he hauls anchor and making sure his sails are angled to catch the wind he mans the wheel and starts making his way.

He does love the _Rouge_ , modern as she is, but the _Amphitrite_ will probably always be first in his heart, because she’s the first boat he truly _owned_. It makes him feel proud to see her sails catch the wind and feel her surge forward beneath him, responding to his actions at the helm just as quickly as she had when she’d first been built.

It’s getting on towards noon by the time he’s near Haven again. And at least he doesn’t have to argue right of way with anyone, any boat that’ll be out is already out.

He’s not _quite_ surprised to see someone waiting at his slip, he expects Nathan to give him the usual snarly welcome he always does.

Except as he gets closer he realizes it’s not Nathan, but Parker.

She’s clearly gaping at him as he slides the _Amphitrite_ into the other slide of his slip and gets her at least slightly moored. “Good afternoon,” he finally says, staring up at her. Wondering what the hell she wants.

-

Audrey gives herself a rough mental shake, she’d come out here—she may or may not have bribed Beady to let her know when the _Rouge_ pulled back into port—to confront Duke about him lying to her about Lucy, she’s gotten over her anger on his and Nathan’s fronts, which she feels he should damn well appreciate, not stare at him.

To be fair there’s a lot more to stare at than usual. He grew his hair out some while he’s been away, most of it plastered to face and neck probably from sea spray; it leads her eyes down to broad shoulders and quite a lot of tanned skin, some tattoos—which she can’t pick out all the details of. A hoard of necklace: a whistle, one that looks like a claw or a tooth of some sort, the one that catches her eye the most is a silver pendant with a green gem in the middle. With ratty pants and bare feet, half hanging from the rigging of the boat half in the empty air, the whole of him looks like a pirate from a movie or a book.

“Parker?” Duke’s voice yanks her out of her sort-of fantasy and again she gives herself a mental shake. It’s _ridiculous_ , she shouldn’t be _oogling_ him, she should be confronting him.

So looking him in the eye, she finally speaks. “You lied to me,” it comes out far more cheerful than she thought it would. True to his promise Nathan’s been telling her bits and pieces of her past self, well _selves_ apparently—although Nathan’s been...reluctant to talk about the her that came before Lucy. From the way he’s blushed every time it even remotely comes up she thinks she knows why.

And now she gets why he was afraid for her to find out, worried about the whole obligation thing. Because thinking ‘ _I apparently tapped that, a_ long _time ago_ ’ is weird enough as it is. On the other hand it doesn’t make her feel _obligated_ , but sure as hell curious. How had that even worked? She didn’t doubt that Nathan’s body would react the same way most hetrosexual men would when faced with a naked woman, but it still seemed sort of unfair to him...getting off track.

And he had let slip that it hadn’t been Duke’s _father_ in the photo.

“Well, Agent Parker,” Duke still has an easygoing smile on his face, but she can see a tightening around his eyes, and the way he swings back towards the rigging slightly as if to put it between them. “To be perfectly honest I probably lied to you a lot. Which hardly makes you special since I lie to _everyone_.” She catches herself wondering about what, and shakes her head.

“About Lucy, and that photo I showed you.” She steps to the edge of the slip, which still leaves about two feet between them. “Although in a way I’m relieved, because Duke Crocker Junior sounds ridiculous.”

Which earns her a twitch of the lips at least. But then he’s back to his carefree mask. “Alright, you caught me. You gonna lock me up and throw away the key?”

She laughs, because she has a good idea that even that wouldn’t be enough to hold Duke. It has the added bonus of flabbergasting Duke at least, clearly having expected _some_ anger. “No, I want to talk. I want to find out _who I am_. And there’s some stuff Nathan doesn’t seem all that willing to talk about. I _was_ angry at you, but not as much as you apparently think I am.”

A sly smile crosses his face, probably because of her Nathan comment—not sure which part though—and he surprises her by holding an arm out. “Well then, come aboard and we can talk some.”

This time the once over she gives him is more jokey than anything else. “I feel like I should take my shoes off too. Maybe wear a pirate wench costume.”

Duke laughs, and it’s a good sort of laugh. He stretches out a little closer, and she hopes to God he’s got a good grip on that rigging, otherwise she fears he might fall and hurt himself. “No costumes required. I just needed to bring the _Amphitrite_ in from her winter home. And don’t worry Parker, I’m not going to drop you into the brink. Fishing you out once was enough.”

She gives a huff but obligingly reaches out. She grabs his hand, but quickly takes his minor correction and grasps up near his elbow instead.

“Now I’m going to pull you over, just relax.”

Her mouth opens to ask what he means, but then she’s moving, and, oh. It’s sort of amazing to watch him as he basically carries her whole weight across as if it’s nothing at all. Setting her lightly on the deck, a deck the rocks far more than she’s used to.

She doesn’t quite loose her balance, but she’s pretty sure Duke’s laughing at her in his head as he joins her. “So,” he spreads his arms wide. “What do you want to know?”

“Nathan said you were kind of immortal like him, but you’re not the same.” It’s not really a _question_ , but she doesn’t want to outright ask. It’s rude, and in Haven, she’s discovering, being rude gets you shunned faster than anything.

His expression shutters some, “yeah. He tell you anything else?”

 _Like what I am?_ , she can read the implications. “About you? No. About him? Some, I know how old he is and that he’s some sort of spirit being trapped in a human body.”

Politely she ignores how relieved Duke looks. “So you know he’s not a real boy?” He mimes a Pinocchio nose.

She opens her mouth to protest, and snap at him for being an asshole. But she bites it back, the way Duke says it makes it sound rote rather than a real insult. So it sets her teeth on edge, but she wonders if he really even means it. “You’re deflecting,” again she goes back to cheerful. “If I ask you what you are will you tell me?” Which, of course, is her asking; but she can at least be roundabout about it.

“I’d rather not,” it’s not a no, but she’ll still back off. Duke turns his head and stares out to the ocean. “My family...we helped make Haven what it is, but we weren’t exactly _nice_ about it. A lot of people...don’t like us, don’t like me.” The admission is unexpected and briefly her heart feels for him.

But she manages to resist the urge to reach out to him; although that’s probably because the thought’s sudden appearance _frightens_ her. Audrey’s always known she’s an empathetic person, but _hug_ Duke? Because he was vulnerable when some part of her insisted that he shouldn’t be? It’s too _fast_.

Shoving her hands into her coat pocket she goes to a coil of rope and sits on it, not the most comfortable of positions, but she’ll deal. “Tell me about Lucy? About the woman who came before?”

Duke turns back to look at her, his expression is sad, but of a different sort. He walks over to join her, perching himself on the railing, feet dangling over the side. “Sarah? Sure. What do you want to know?” He gives a sharp smile, yet it feels somehow friendly. “You know Nathan and Sarah knocked boots right?” He waggles his eyebrows.

Audrey laughs. “I gathered as much, He blushes whenever I probe about it.”

“He would.” Duke grins again. “So, Sarah, a nurse, didn’t really like me much…”

A sort of warmth fills her as they talk. _Where will you lead me Sarah?_

-

Nathan can see the late March breeze blowing through the trees and buffeting the stalls of the farmer’s market. He can see everyone else react to it, the way they huddle and hurry.

While he sits on a bench, two coffees in his hands, waiting for Parker. He is a little antsy, they've been spending time together outside of work, but it’s usually to talk about Lucy—right now it’s as far as he’s willing to go, soon he thinks he can talk about Sarah, and Maggie, and on and on, but not yet.

For now he’s just content to watch the people of Haven _be_ , feeling a sort of pride that he helped them become like this—at least that’s the hope. He watches them and thinks that maybe this time will be different, that Parker, that _Audrey_ might survive.

It’s hard to hope that though, because it hurts. To think that things might get better when he’s kept a pretty even keel for as long as he can remember, even with his...what Sarah had called ‘recklessness’. He’s not quite sure how to deal with it.

“Hey,” Parker sits next to him, as bundled up against the wind as everyone else, but there’s a smile on her face as she grabs one of the coffees. She takes a sip and makes a face.

“Too hot?” He’d think they’d be slightly cold by now actually.

She shakes her head and hands it back. “Too sweet, Christ Nathan,” he hopes if he’s blushing she takes it as windburn. “Do you just have them make you liquid sugar?” Reaching out again she takes the other cup.

“No,” he is _not_ pouting. “But I like the tastes.” Today it’s raspberry, he’d asked the barista at Black House to surprise him.

She actually laughs, and he thinks he feels pleasure in it, it makes him want to scoop her up, see if he can taste raspberry on her lips; instead he tastes copper and realizes he’s biting his tongue. Taking a sip of her own coffee she gives a happy sigh and leans back against the bench, happily watching everyone. “This town really is amazing.”

His pleasure turns to pride to hearing her say that, “I’m glad you like it.” He knows that now that she’s here she’ll stay—hopefully for good—although he’s not sure how that will work out with her FBI job, he knows she’s trying to put off her boss but isn’t sure how long that can work.

He’s taking a sip of his coffee when she speaks again. “Duke told me about Sarah.”

He tries damn hard not to, but he does spit out his drink. And he narrows his eyes at her, because he’s damn sure she did it on purpose; in fact he _knows_ , her eyes are glittering and she’s hiding a smile behind her own cup. “That wasn’t fair.”

“I know,” she reaches out and squeezes his arm—at least when it’s over his clothes he doesn’t have to try and not react—“sorry. But while I think I get what you were talking about with the whole ‘obligation’ thing, which I appreciate; you’re also being kind of absurd about it.”

Nathan’s pretty sure the expression he makes could be best described as ‘fish like’, “what?” He doesn’t understand, well he gets that she clearly doesn’t feel like she needs to like him because Sarah did—which is a relief—but the rest of it leaves him, well flabbergasted.

It makes him wonder what Duke told her, if he’d spilled all the sordid details that he’d probably been able to glean, or if he’d only given her the bare bones.

“I’m _not_ Lucy, or Sarah. I’m _me_ , Audrey Parker. I might not know my connection to these women who have come before me. But I certainly know _that_ . So don’t try to use them to figure out me okay? Or whatever it is you do.” She doesn’t look angry, but she _is_ determined; and he finds himself a little in awe of her.

He swallows. “I’ll try. And you’re right, you’re not any of them. I still see them when I look at you though.” He turns his head and stares at her, at her blue eyes that see far too much. “There are little things, your hair color,” tentatively he reaches out, letting her pull back if she wants, brushing a finger briefly against a cheekbone; letting himself relish the bloom of warmth. “Sarah and Constance had freckles, the way you talk, that are different. But,” he pulls his hand away, the warmth lingers as a phantom limb. “You, they, always care. That’s never changed.”

 _Parker_ takes a sip of her coffee, clearly thinking. Her lips twitch in a smile. “Wow Wuornos, you sure can be charming when you put your mind to it.” She’s _teasing_ him, and from the way her smile grows he’s blushing.

Quickly he looks away, focuses on the people in front of them. Maybe the ground will swallow him up and he’ll return to hell, that might be better than this—although the teasing of his fellow Fallen might be even worse than Parker’s.

It’s not quite the same, but one of the customers in front of Delany’s stand keels over. He glances out of the corner of his eye to see that she’s noticed it too. And as the people around the poor man begin to panic Nathan heaves a sigh and stands up. So much for a nice, relaxing morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yep! Duke has two boats. Also you're welcome for that mental image.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to one of the few episode rewrites I'm doing for this fic, with a few changes obvs.

So somehow no one realized that Delany had _gorgon_ ancestry—it somehow even escaped _Nathan_ , something he’s not exactly pleased with—and sadly Tanner really is dead. His sister definitely isn’t happy, but Delany feels terrible and at least is offering reparations; and wearing mirrored sunglasses everywhere now.

Just another day in Haven.

Parking the Bronco Nathan takes a moment to stare up at the old house. Supposedly the first house in Haven. If it is, it shows.

The Georgian colonial is weathered and beaten, the wood clearly old, yet still stands as it had when it was first built. Even the windows are the same—no surprise to him that no one _lives_ there anymore. He had to give the Crockers that at least, they built to last.

The door is wide open, and while that might be cause for concern on most days it isn’t today.

Climbing out of the Bronco Nathan sneezes, even out here there’s dust in the air, so maybe it’s a good thing he can’t feel it irritating his nose. Of course it gets worse the closer he gets, but he braves it as best he can, definitely certain he doesn’t have the element of surprise anymore.

He can hear music now, something modern...ish, definitely from a radio or maybe a record player; so he probably hasn’t given himself away yet. “Duke?” He calls out anyways.

Not getting a reply, again however not a reason to worry, he heads into the house, at least he doesn’t have to duck to avoid the ceiling. The doors to his immediate left and right are open, both the rooms are already clean so he move on.

Avoiding the stairs for now he checks the kitchen and the large dining room. Both empty.

Finally he finds Duke, in the ballroom that takes up most of the first floor.

If Duke were human Nathan would consider his position on the ladder precarious at best. Half holding onto it as he dusts behind one of the pillars that decorate the space. The windows here have been thrown open, letting in the spring air and giving an unimpeded view of the now wild gardens.

Duke’s head is bobbing along to the music and Nathan can hear the other man humming. And really Nathan’s actually sort of pleased that he’s managed to sneak up on Duke. “Duke!” He half shouts, again feeling a sort of pleasure at seeing Duke flail about.

At least until Duke falls off the ladder and Nathan hears the snap of bone. Before he even thinks about it he’s at Duke’s side, he’s pretty sure Duke’s already healing, but it still can’t be much fun. Not that Nathan’s helping much in that regard, putting on more pressure than he should because he can’t have Duke figuring things out.

“Fuck, _merde_ , _manuke, khara,_ ” Nathan finds himself holding back a smile as Duke continues to curse. While Nathan gets the gist of what Duke’s saying—not that it’s _hard_ —it’s a far cry from what Nathan would have been able to do two centuries ago, back when language was no barrier and he could speak all tongues.

If feeling Audrey is a pleasant warmth, than Duke is like a hot spring, almost _too_ hot, but not quite. And it is a sort of fight not to lean into it and relish it. “Come on, it’s not that bad.” He’s nearly completely healed if what Nathan feels is anything to go by.

Silver eyes glare at him, and Nathan can see sharper than normal teeth as Duke bites out, “fututus et mori in igni.”

Latin, well Latin Nathan knows like the back of his hand, his lips twitch again. “Your accent is atrocious.”

Duke snarls and flips him off, but soon enough is shoving Nathan’s hands away and standing on his own. “Fucking hell Nathan.”

“I didn’t think you’d fall,” he doesn’t offer it up as an excuse, just a fact. Duke lives on a _boat_ , you’d think he’d have better balance than that. On the other hand Nathan sees it as a sort of petty revenge for telling Parker about Sarah—he’s not really _mad_ , but he’s also not sure how he feels about the appraising looks she’s giving him.

“Yeah, well I didn’t expect to be given a heart attack,” Duke snipes. And it would be so easy to fall into the familiar pattern of angry banter.

“You told Parker, about Sarah.” It’s not exactly an accusation, but Nathan’s not sure what else to call it.

Duke folds up the ladder and leans it against the wall. “Newsflash Nathan, she already had a good idea what your ‘big secret’ was. So I didn’t tell her anything on that front so much as confirm what she already knew. And really Nathan, it’s sex, not the end of the world.”

For Duke maybe, but for Nathan sex has always had meaning—not that he hasn’t enjoyed what little of it he’s had—and with Sarah, well, he’d done a lot he hadn’t before, having far more trust in her than the one other lover he’d had. And alright, maybe once or twice when he’s been lonely and aching he’s wondered what sort of a partner Duke might be like, because Duke’s not unhandsome, and Nathan can feel his touch, and well Nathan’s always been a curious sort.

On the other hand he knows Duke would probably try to turn it to his advantage, and in Nathan’s mind it’s bad enough he has his heart broken by the same woman every twenty seven years, he’s not sure he’d be able to deal with Duke breaking his heart and then _seeing_ him every day.

“You’re dirty,” it escapes Nathan before he really means to, but it’s better than nothing? It’s even true, the other man nearly being covered from head to toe in dust and smears of who knows what.

Duke waggles his eyebrows. “Why yes Nathan, I am.”

With a huff Nathan tries not to blush, having no idea if he succeeds or not. “I mean you’re covered in dust.” As if to prove his point Nathan sneezes again.

“Yeah, well you clean a house this big all by your lonesome and see how clean you stay.” Duke stretches, and Nathan tries not to stare at skin that’s grown more tan since Duke left.

Nathan doesn’t answer right away, taking a few steps towards the windows and staring at the erstwhile garden. “She might have already known, but I don’t really like that she heard it from you.”

He hears Duke’s footsteps approach. “Yeah, well I’m sort of surprised you’re being this...open and helpful to her. You’re usually more closed mouth.”

It’s a not so subtle attempt at fishing and Nathan lets himself have a small smile, Duke would probably be a horrible interrogator. “There’s...Parker’s, Audrey seems different. It’s like she’s…” He can’t even put it into words.

There’s always been a certain spark about her, it’s why he thinks she’s the same woman over and over—if different—but now it seems...brighter? Except that’s not it at all, those facets tempting him to find out why.

Duke’s standing next to him now, staring at the same window. “I get it.” Duke claps him on the shoulder, hard, so at least Nathan’s stumble is real, the flare of pain almost wondrous. “And hey, if you want you can tell her Maggie and I totally had a thing.” Nathan doesn’t even need to look to know Duke’s waggling his eyebrows again.

A huff of laughter escapes Nathan. “I’m not you Duke.” Still, it’s a little tempting.

“I know,” Duke’s tone is serious, and Nathan has no idea how to respond.

-

There is a _massive_ bouquet of flowers on Nathan’s desk. Audrey’s not allergic or anything, but it does seem almost excessive, even to her. She bites back the urge to ask what it’s like for Nathan, not necessarily out or respect, but because she thinks her time in Haven might be coming to a close. Her calls to Howard have gotten more and more tense, and she’s certain things will come to a head soon.

And she doesn’t know which decision to make.

Flowers, focus on the flowers and not the possibility of leaving Haven, or quitting the FBI. “Are those from Crawford?” She asks Nathan.

“Yeah,” his ears pinken as he takes a seat, the flowers completely obscuring him, which is a feat in and of itself.

“She’s totally asking you out.” Audrey’s always been the sort to listen to her gut.

“I saved her Founders Day paperwork Parker,” it’s sort of comedic to hear Nathan’s protests come from a giant bouquet. “She’s just showing her thanks.”

Audrey shakes her head even if Nathan can’t see it. “No Nathan, a thanks would have been a much smaller bouquet than this.” Granted apparently Founders Day is a big deal here, they’re still a month out and already it seems the whole town is ramping up for it. “Did it come with a card?”

“Yes,” she’s pretty sure Nathan’s pouting. “I haven’t opened it yet.”

Pointlessly she hides a smile behind her coffee mug. “Ten bucks say she asks you out to dinner.”

There’s a beat of silence, then, “sounds like something Duke would say.” She’s not sure Nathan’s _angry_ about that. “And I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t be taking bets on my love life.”

... _or lack thereof_ , she bites back; _that_ is definitely something Duke would say. “You’re trying to distract me.” So she tries a different tack. “Alright not ten bucks, dinner. If I’m right then the next time we end up somewhere _I_ pay.” It hasn’t escaped her notice that Nathan always manages to pay before she even has the chance. It’s actually starting to annoy her. Also she knows it means Nathan will actually have dinner tomorrow; not feeling hunger coupled with immortality apparently makes him shit at feeding himself.

“That doesn’t exactly sound like a reward.”

Getting up Audrey goes over to his desk and leans against it, staring over the bouquet at him. “It is when I’ve yet to pay for a meal,” she arches an eyebrow. “Come on, open it.”

He’s not blushing anymore, but he opens the envelope with more care than she’s sure it deserves. The card inside is pretty generic, and she watches Nathan’s face as he reads what’s inside. She might have only been here a little over a month, but she knows what that tiny grimace means.

“Alright, she’s asking me out.” The tense awkwardness in Nathan’s tone makes her feel a little bad for egging him on; but to her Sarah was nearly sixty years ago, he couldn’t still be in love with her, could he?

If he is she has no idea what to do about it, if she _should_ do anything. It’s strange to her, but she can’t exactly get someone to _stop_ loving someone else.

“Well then Detective Wuornos, you and I, dinner at the Gull tomorrow? Taco Tuesday…” She drifts off suggestively, waggling her eyebrows and doing minor jazz hands. She has actually yet to make it to the Gull on taco Tuesday, and she really wants to know if a _taco_ can blow her mind.

Nathan gives an amused huff, but at least he doesn’t look awkward anymore. “Why not tonight?”

“Duke invited me to a poker game on the _Rouge_ ,” it does feel a little strange to specify, now that Duke’s got _two_ boats on the harbor. “Something about upstart tourists? I don’t know, he said it was low stakes and I enjoy poker.” Not that she’s all that good at it.

“Oh,” Nathan responds, a far off look on his face, probably reliving some memory from ages ago. “Have fun.” Audrey doesn’t like the blandness in his voice.

“You could come with? I’m sure Duke won’t mind.” He had mentioned something about wanting a fifth player. And she finds herself curious to know what their interactions were like in a situation more low key than trying to save people—not that Duke has helped out all that much since he’d gotten back.

Nathan shakes his head. “No,” again another far off look, or maybe it’s the same one. “Duke and I don’t do to well in competitions together.”  Well _that’s_ an interesting nugget, not that she would consider poker a competition, at least not in that way.

Still his loss, she gives a shrug and returns to her desk. There’s a bout of companionable silence, but Audrey can’t resist one last teasing jibe. “So are you going to accept?”

Nathan tosses an iris at her head.

-

Nathan’s just stepped into Garland’s office to talk about the William’s girl, if her parent’s worries are right she’s been going to Revels in the Brambles and Nathan’s pretty sure she doesn’t understand how _dangerous_ it is. Except before he can get a word out there’s another knock on the door.

The both of them turn to see a dark skinned man, average height; Nathan stops himself before he catalogs _all_ the man’s pertinent features.

“Can I help you?” Garland’ voice is full of easy calm, the same sort he uses on most strangers who come to the station for one reason or another.

The man apparently takes it as an invitation to come in, which niggles at Nathan, and gives a bland sort of smile. “I’m here to see agent Parker.”

Nathan moves his hands behind him so at least Garland’s the only one who sees his hands clenching tightly. “Who’re you?” Not his nicest tone, but Nathan’s not exactly feeling nice at the moment.

Still it doesn’t seem to phase the man, who reaches into his coat pocket. “I’m her boss, agent Howard.” He holds out a badge.

Garland gets it before Nathan does and looks it over. “Well I’m afraid I can’t help you agent, she asked for the night off and I gave it to her.”

Howard frowns. “She’s been working here?”

Nathan doesn’t like this at all, but fights to keep his mouth shut, otherwise he might let slip something he’d rather not; anger unfortunately loosens his tongue better than getting drunk most times. It doesn’t help that he’s also feeling a possessive flare he doesn’t exactly have a right to, Parker’s made him no promises.

“Do you know where she is?” Howard’s appraising eye and bland smile are all pointed Nathan’s way and he grits his teeth.

“No,” he’s a bit relieved it’s a lie that comes out. He knows this man is Audrey’s boss, but he also has a good idea that this man doesn’t mean any good; and Nathan doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. He knows she can take care of herself, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to protect her too.

Howard’s eyes narrow, but before he can speak Garland’s stepping between them. “Now agent, if you’re going to start pointing fingers at my men, I’d rather I be the ones asking the questions.”

And while Nathan does like Garland, he wishes the other man would just keep his mouth shut for a few minutes. Garland _knows_ what good Audrey’s doing in Haven, what she _always_ does for this town, and he’s just going to let her boss snatch her up again?

A more logical part of Nathan reminds him that it’s not October, she doesn’t leave until October—just like always—but Nathan’s not exactly inclined to listen to that part right now.

“Well then,” Howard’s eyes flick behind the both of them for a moment. “Chief Wuornos is it?” He continues without waiting for confirmation. “Ask your man here if he knows where Agent Parker is.”

Garland turns to look at him, a questioning eyebrow raised. And Nathan wants to snarl and shout, because it’s not _fair_ , Garland using the rules Nathan set down when he first starting working for the Haven PD against Nathan like this.

“She’s in the harbor,” Nathan ostensibly says to Garland, while glaring at Howard. “On the _Cape Rouge_.”

Howard gives a little nod of his head. “Thank you, I’ll see myself out.”

The _moment_ Nathan’s sure Howard is out of the building he turns on Garland. “Why did you do that?” He snarls.

Seemingly unconcerned with his outburst Garland pulls out a cigarette. “You might be older than me Nathan,” flicking on his lighter he holds it to the cigarette. “But I’m your boss, means when you’re being stupid on the job I get to _do_ something about it.”

“It’s _Audrey_ ,” he snaps back, like it should be enough. Then without even thinking about it he snatches the cigarette from Garland’s lips and smashes it into the empty ashtray. “You gave up last year,” he snipes; he has a good idea why the man picked up the habit again, but he doesn’t have to like it.

Garland narrows his eye, but doesn’t say anything for a few moments. “I’m worried about you Nathan. I might not remember Sarah all that much, but I remember Lucy. You weren’t ever this gung-ho over her.” Yes, because she hadn’t wanted to be that close to him, and she’d had James; and he might love her, but he also wanted to respect her. So he’d let her create the distance between them. Even if it had hurt him down to his bones to ignore those desires in himself, she’d wanted it to be that way and he’d let her dictate the relationship.

Nathan bares his teeth and marches for the door.

“Where’re you going Nathan?” The thread of anger in his voice is just as bad for him as the cigarettes, not that Nathan cares about that right now.

“Home,” he bites out. “And I’m going to call Audrey.” He at least needs to warn her, even if he can’t stop Howard now. He leaves before Garland can say anything else.

-

Duke stares at his cards and feels a wonderful sort of satisfaction, definitely a winning hand.

For a spur of the moment idea poker night hasn’t been so bad so far. He’s glad Audrey agreed to come. It’s not keeping his distance like he’d wanted to, but ever since she’d asked him about Sarah, well staying away became furthest from his mind. “I raise.” He tosses two chips into the pot.

Next to him Claire—casual friend, one time lover, and cardshark—narrows her eyes, clearly trying to figure out his game. He puts on an air of easy calm and grins. She doesn’t even look at her own cards before tossing her own chips in. “Call.”

Audrey takes a ship of her beer and glances at her cards. One of the tourists, E-something, starts babbling a little, he’s definitely nervous—Duke can smell it—and if he didn’t know any better he’d think the guy was on something.

“Well I don’t like it, but Ezra’s,” Duke can’t exactly throw stones when it comes to names, but that one’s still a little ridiculous, “right. I call too.” Audrey tosses in her chips.

Ezra folds, and then they’re showing their cards and Claire takes the pot. Except… “Hold on a second.” He stops Tobias from adding Ezra’s card to the deck and flips them over. He cuts off his snarl before it can really start. “Are you conning me?” He snaps, staring at the hand that would’ve beaten even Claire’s.

“No, no.” Ezra blinks at him wide-eyed. “I, we, just felt bad about yesterday. Wanted to let you win some.” Except he invited Claire to this because these two really needed to be taught a lesson about fleecing people, and she would happily beat them all.

Audrey’s phone rings, breaking the tension and Duke lets it go at Claire’s warning glance—he might not go to her for therapy, but she knows him enough. “Deal me in,” Audrey says, before getting up and answering.

Filtering out Tobias trying to flirt with Claire—a lost cause considering she's got a girlfriend—Duke focuses on Audrey. “Nathan?” Of course it is.

“Audrey,” Nathan’s voice sounds tinny through the speaker. “Your boss, agent Howard, was just here.”

Unhappy panic filters from Audrey. “Wait, here in Haven?”

“Yes, here in Haven.” A new voice speaks from the slip. It’s enough to get _everyone_ to stop and look. African American, average height, _definitely_ a suit. Audrey hangs up and the unhappiness takes over.

“Hello sir.”

The fact that this agent Howard doesn’t wait for permission before boarding sets Duke’s teeth on edge. “Hello Parker. I think you and I need to talk.”

Duke sure as hell doesn’t like that. But when Audrey gives him a questioning glance he can’t say no. “You can use the stateroom.” He finds himself sort of hoping she forgets to close the hatch, otherwise he won’t be able to listen in; if this guy has _Nathan_ worried, then Duke needs to keep up his guard.

She gives him a grateful nod and she and her boss head below, neither of them saying anything. The sound of the hatch closing is a death knell.

“Now, where were we?” Claire sounds almost cheerful. “Ah, that’s right. Fleecing you all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fututus et mori in igni: fuck off and die in a fire.
> 
> See you all next week! (yep! posting once a week now, far enough ahead that even if I get stalled out I've got time to work through it)
> 
>  
> 
> ...and sush, I can make all the damn references I want.


	8. Chapter 8

If there’s one thing Audrey’s never liked it’s feeling uncertain, uncertain of herself, her choices, her life. And now it feels like all of those things have come together in one clusterfuck of _wonderful_.

She tries to contain her roiling stomach, she’d blame it on seasickness if she were the type, as she leads Howard down to the stateroom. His silence is telling and she feels like a teenager who just got caught trying to sneak out. It’s possibly one of the worst feelings Audrey’s ever had, because she’s _disappointed him_.

He takes a seat at the tiny table and gestures for her to take the one across from him as he sets his briefcase between them. “I hear you’ve been working with the police here.”

Dread congeals in her stomach, she _had_ planned on telling him, at some point. But each time she’d had the opportunity it just hadn’t felt like the right time. She also catches herself trying to think of who told him. “Yes, sir.” at least it doesn’t come out through gritted teeth like she’d feared.

“And here I thought you were talking a vacation.” He sounds patient, but there’s an expectant look in his eye.

Sighing she resists the urge to rub the bridge of her nose. “I was, but sir, I couldn’t just leave things alone here. Haven, Haven is different.” Maybe he already knows about the supernatural, it wouldn’t surprise her considering how bad most people were at keeping secrets of any sort, maybe if she explains he’ll understand.

Opening his briefcase he pulls out a notepad and a pencil. “Well, you’ve apparently got over a month of cases to brief me on. Why don’t we start with that.”

Not the worst possible outcome, but not exactly the best either. Taking a deep breath she wonders where she should start, how she can possibly explain Haven and her own possible role in it; when she hears a metallic sound come from the hatch door. “Did you hear that?”

From the way Howard frowns she’ll take it as a yes. Getting up she goes to the door and tries it, it doesn’t budge. “I, I think we’re locked in.” She doesn’t think it was Duke or Claire, why would either of them lock her and Howard in the stateroom? Which only leaves the two strangers, Ezra and Tobias; and she can’t imagine Duke letting them do something like that.

Doubly so when she feels the _Rouge_ start to move. Duke definitely wouldn’t let a complete stranger pilot his boat.

 _Maybe he’s working with them,_ some insidious part of her pipes up. But why? She sees no reason why Duke would work with a pair of tourists like that, especially ones that scalped him the other day. As for Claire, well Audrey’s pretty in the dark about her, but in their occasional meeting the woman hasn’t been anything other than friendly and welcoming.

It just doesn’t make any _sense_.

“Agent Parker.” She gives a start at Howard’s voice, realizing she’s been staring at the hatch door for a while.

“Sorry,” she returns to the stateroom proper and pulls out her phone. “Something’s happening though.” She grimaces when she sees she’s got no signal. “Duke didn’t have any plans to take the _Rouge_ out tonight.” At least none that he told her of, and from his insinuations about the poker game he’d expected them to go on long into the night.

“Well, then it seems we’ve got more time than expected.” Howard gestures again to the seat across from him. “Why don’t we start with the Lester escape?”

-

Duke lets himself pace as he feels the _Rouge_ move beneath them. These two punks have somehow gotten the better of him and are taking his _boat_.

“Duke?” Claire’s voice yanks him from his work up towards angry. “We can get out right?”

Getting out, yeah. He can do that. “Help me move this.” He doesn’t actually _need_ the help, but he wants Claire to feel like she’s helping too, to keep _her_ from panicking. The crate moves easily, whatever’s in it not shifting as they resettle it.

One of the perks of the _Rouge_ over the _Amphitrite_ is all the space he’d had to play around with and he finds himself grinning as he pops the catch and one of his many secret panels pops out. “How’re you with guns?” Oh he’s never been so happy to see a shotgun in his life.

“Better not,” she grimaces. “Dad tried to get me into hunting, but.” She makes a face.

He nods, not what he’d prefer, but he can work with it. Better than handing a gun to someone with no experience with it. “Don’t worry, it’ll all be over before you know it.” Reaching out again he pops another latch and just like the first the opposite panel pops out, revealing the hall beyond.

“Hello!” Tobias seemingly appears from nowhere, right in front of them. “I’ve gotta say Duke, you’re pretty clever.”

Not bothering to deign that with a reply Duke raises the shotgun and fires; hell it’s _self-defense_ , he’s pretty sure not even Nathan’ll arrest him for this.

Except the gun doesn’t go off, and Tobias’ grin grows even wider, before he’s closing the panel and locking it. “Sonnva…” he snarls, distantly he can hear Claire trying to say something, but it’s unimportant next to him ransacking his ‘secret’ compartment. “Bullets, they took all my fucking bullets.”

But how? _No one_ knows about these cubbies of his, that’s the whole _point_ of them. Yet somehow these fuckers knew. Knew enough to take his bullets, but not his guns. Hell they’d even left the black powder he had, not that it was any good without fucking _bullets_.

And if they knew about this cubby what else did they know about? They were clearly after something, something he’s probably carrying for someone else…

A hand cracks across his cheek, the sting of it sharp and hot. His head jerks back to Claire, she doesn’t look happy and her eyes are gleaming. “If you don’t keep it together Duke Crocker I might do something we’ll _both_ regret.”

Shit, right. Getting afraid with a phobophage is like chumming the water for sharks. “I, thanks.” And being without fear right now might get them _both_ killed.

Setting aside the shotgun, it’s not really good for anything except as a club, he sits, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. A few of them actually, despite the fear and anger in him it’s easy to slip into meditation for a few minutes; getting a hold of himself.

When he opens his eyes again he’s not the only one looking better. “I’m good.”

Claire gives a sharp nod. “Good. Now is there anything else here we might be able to use to get out?” Her eyes drift to the stack of boxes in the hold with them.

“No,” he does his best not to bite it out. “Nothing in those’ll help.”

“You know what’s in all of them?” She arches a disbelieving eyebrow.

No,” he _does_ snap this time. “And it’s going to stay that way.” Actually he does know what’s in quite a few of them, his long time customers trusting him enough; also he can smell a lot of them, it’s what's helped him to not break the rules he’s set for himself regarding what he will and won’t smuggle.

Claire narrows her eyes, but doesn’t say anything, at least for a few seconds. “Fine.” Good thing she’s lived nearly her whole life in Haven, she might not like it but she understands. “Well, then I guess we’re stuck here.”

“For now,” he feels his eyes flare. For now he’ll play the hopeless human, it’s not like these idiots _know_ any better. But soon enough they’ll let their guard down, and he’ll take them.

-

“So you’d have me believe that it was…” He glances down at his notes. “mermaids, these Glendowers, who were stealing the catches?” She’s not sure if he’s accepting, or he’s made the decision that she’s crazy, but either way his tone is suspiciously bland.

“Selkies,” she corrects—and a month ago she would have called them mermaids too—“and only because the Talbots had trespassed.” According to Nathan fairies were like that.

“Right,” Howard jots something else down. Deciding she’s earned a break Audrey stands and checks her phone.

Over the low rumble of the engines she hears Howard sigh. “It still won’t work, just like the last twenty times.” She knows, but he doesn’t have to _tell_ her that.

It’s getting to be past dawn, and Audrey’s feeling antsy. Will Nathan realize something’s wrong? Will Beady call him if the _Rouge_ isn’t in her slip and Duke didn’t at least leave a general heading? Or will no one think anything of it?

And what had happened to Duke and Claire? She has to hope that whatever these two want it doesn’t involve all of them dead, but that still leaves a lot of options. Not all of them good. Right now the best case scenario is that they’re in the same boat—ha!—as her and Howard.

She’d like to think that Nathan would notice when she doesn’t come in to work on time. And what does that say about her that being with the Haven PD is ‘work’ and not with the FBI?

Just to give her hands something to do she reties her hair, trying to figure out how to tell Nathan what’s happening. It’s her best bet at the moment, but with no signal...on a thought she goes to the bookcase and pulls out the folder she’s noticed shoved in it. She hears Howard try to get her attention, but she ignores it for the moment. Bills, bills, parking ticket—she snorts as she catches the issuer—letter of some sort, ha.

Inexpertly shoving the folder back into place she takes her piece of paper and pulls out her phone again.

“Parker, an explanation?”

Checking she’s got the right date and time she glances at the paper. “I’m going to send a text.” She drops the paper and starts rooting around Duke’s kitchen for something with heft.

“And how are you going to do that with no service?” At least Howard doesn’t sound disbelieving anymore, and really as far as spur of the moment ideas go this one’s pretty good.

“Tides sir,” if the chart she’d found is correct high tide’s coming in, which will at least get her phone towards land. She finds a wrench—she’s not sure if she wants to know why Duke has a wrench in his kitchen—as well as a jar and some duct tape.

One broken window and nearly literal message in a bottle later Audrey’s feeling slightly better about her prospects.

“Parker I’m worried about you.” Not exactly the words she wants to hear at the moment.

“I appreciate it sir, but it’s unnecessary. I’m still of as sound a mind as when you sent me here; this place hasn’t driven me crazy or anything like that.” Not exactly the best way to put it probably. “And I’m not making any of it up, all of what I’ve told you is _real_.”

With a message now out maybe she should try and find her _own_ way out. She has a _very_ sneaking suspicion that Duke’s made plenty of aftermarket alterations to the _Rouge_. But where?

“I don’t doubt that you think that.” His words set her teeth on edge. “But if your right then I would think this work better suited for a taskforce of some sort, not one FBI agent and a small town police department.” Something in her heart seizes, no she _won’t let_ him bring complete strangers into _her_ town.

She pauses in her knocking on the walls to frown at that thought, she’s only been in Haven a little over a month—unless she believes Nathan’s insistence that she’s the same woman as Lucy and Sarah—she’s pretty sure that’s not long enough to engender such possessive feelings. “With all due respect sir,” she bites out as she moves back to the bookshelves. “A taskforce is likely to make things worse. No one in a place like this is going to appreciate strangers coming in and telling them they know better.”

“And what you’re doing _is_ working?” It’s not exactly pleasant to realize that maybe Howard has less faith in her than she thought he did.

Sliding a hand against the back of the bookshelf her fingers slide over a catch, and she says a small prayer of thanks that Duke’s, well _Duke_. “Yes sir, it is.” Popping the catch she pulls her hand out and starts moving books, her lips twitching in a smile when she realizes Duke’s using parking tickets as bookmarks.

-

Nathan’s more than willing to admit he’s feeling...antsy. He knows Parker can take care of herself, and she doesn’t need to check in with him; but after Howard went off to go find her and his phone call he would have thought she’d at least let him know how it had gone. But nothing.

And she didn’t meet him for coffee this morning like they usually did.

The station itself is business as usual, and Parker isn’t at her desk; it doesn’t look like she’s been in it since yesterday. His gaze travels to his own desk, where Crawford’s bouquet still sits, and he has to hold back the urge to throw it into a wall.

“Nathan,” he whirls around to see Garland standing there. “Everything alright?”

“No,” he grits out. “Parker’s not here. And she wasn’t at Black House like usual.” It’s surprisingly peaceful to sit and have coffee with her every morning, they don’t even talk most days. When they do it’s usually because he’s worked up the courage to tell her some other fact about herself.

Garland shrugs. “Don’t think she’d appreciate you hovering like this.” Nathan knows, but it doesn’t mean he’s not going to do it.

He heads for Garland and the door, attempting to brush past the other man and failing when Garland grabs his arm. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“The harbor,” he snaps. “And don’t tell me I should _wait_ .” Nathan’s never been the sort to sit and wait, not when he could possibly be out doing something _useful_.

From the way Garland narrows his eyes Nathan gets the idea that he’s not the only one barely hanging onto his temper; but he can’t find it in him to worry what might start breaking if Garland gets angry.

“Told you Nathan, when you’re on the clock I get to tell you when you’re being stupid. And you running around all half-cocked is pretty much as stupid as it gets. If I were you I’d trust she knows what she’s doing and that she’d let you know if she needs help.”

Nathan opens his mouth to say something truly scathing that he’s sure he’ll regret later—and that will be the subject to station gossip for _months_ —but his phone trills, something loud and insistent that Parker programmed in, letting him know he’s got a text.

Jerking his arm out of Garland’s grip he pulls out his phone to see he’s gotten a text message, from Parker. He glances up at Garland, who arches an expectant eyebrow. “It’s Parker.”

“See? What’d I tell ya?”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes Nathan opens the message, the words taking a few moments to actually sink in. “Someone took the _Rouge_ out,” his lips twitch for a brief moment. “Audrey says it’s a boatnapping. She’s still on it, trapped.”

Now that there seems to be an actual _crime_ Garland seems just as eager to get things done as Nathan is, which he can live with. “I’ll call the coast guard, you get in touch with Beady.”

Giving a sharp nod Nathan heads for the radio.

-

A groaning sound pulls Duke out of his...meditation? Sleep? Deciding it doesn’t matter Duke opens his eyes. “Claire?”

He looks around briefly to see her still asleep on one of the longer boxes. Getting up he bites back a soft groan of his own—sleeping-meditating in a chair is _not_ comfortable—and shrugging off his overshirt lies it on top of her.

Another, softer noise, catches his attention and frowning he steps towards an inner wall. Leaning an ear against it he closes his eyes again and focuses.

Footsteps, sounding hurried, not what he’s looking for. Something lower than that. Again the groan happens, sounds as if it’s coming from the bilge…

His eyes shoot open as he realizes what’s happened. “No,” he doesn’t _quite_ shout it. “Oh no, no no.” This seriously _can’t_ be happening.

“Duke?” Claire doesn’t exactly sound happy that he woke her up, but she can suck it. They’ve got a bigger problem.

“We’re sinking.” He snaps, fist flying out to punch a wall. The pain focusing him. “Those bastards put a hole in _my ship_.” Before he would’ve been happy to hand them over to Haven PD and let them deal with the bastards. Now, now they need to pay. Because the _Rouge_ is _his_ damn it! And they’ve hurt her.

Claire stands, laying his shirt on the box. “Can we do anything about it?” He doesn’t know if she’s asking the question to be helpful, or if she’s trying to direct his anger somewhere useful—either way he finds he doesn't care.

He sighs through his teeth, and shakes his head. “Not if we don't care about giving ourselves away.” In Haven it’s not a big deal, but these are _outsiders_ , even if one of them might be supernatural himself—there’s no way a regular human could get one over on him.

Nodding Claire pinches the bridge of her nose. “Great, okay. And we don’t even know what Audrey and her boss are doing.”

It’s not like he _forgot_ about them, but they’d certainly become unimportant; he knows full well Audrey can take care of herself, and if Howard is her _boss_ , well.

Before he can respond however the door opens, Tobias and Ezra on the other side. Both armed, although Ezra looks twitchy. Taking his chance Duke lunges, if he can just tackle one of them…

He gets shot in the arm for his trouble—Tobias, not Ezra—and he has to fight his own body to hold back his healing. Which gets even harder when Tobias then nearly cold-cocks him with the butt of his rifle. Duke’s pretty sure he manages, barely.

Still at least they don’t seem to know better. Ezra grabs him by the arm—he sees how it is—the gun trembling slightly as he points it at Duke. “You’re coming with me.” Well at least he doesn’t stutter.

Duke tosses a glance at Claire, who starts to come up behind him. Until Tobias holds his gun at her. “Oh no sweetheart, you’re staying here with me, as insurance.” Which kicks Duke’s anger up even more, Claire still gives him a little nod and he’s got to trust that she can take care of herself.

So he goes with Ezra, even lets the bastard zip tie him.

It’d be almost nice on deck, if not for the bleeding and the fact that strangers have hijacked his _boat_.

Ezra starts babbling about ‘not’ thinking about the Himura box, and _that’s_ what they’re after? Just to be contrary Duke starts insulting him in Cantonese, in his head. Which when it actually angers Ezra at least shows that Duke’s hunch was right; not that he’s _happy_ about it, mind-readers are a bitch.

And then Claire screams, and of course he doesn’t _know_ if she’s okay or not—if she’s not he’s pretty sure Kat is going to kill him, she’s pretty scary sometimes. And even as his mind tries to work out if her scream sounded fake or not—there _is_ an audible difference—he thinks of one of his ‘overboard’ boxes and Ezra gleefully goes to pull it up.

Which is also when he sees Audrey creeping his way, and oh thank Buddha something _good_ for a change.

-

Even though he looks pretty beat up Audrey still notices when Duke sees her; his body straightens slightly and his gaze starts scanning the deck.

“Hey,” she whispers as she pulls out the pocket knife she got from the wheelhouse.

“You are definitely a sight for sore eyes Audrey,” Duke does sound suitably relieved as he presents his hands to be freed. “Do you know if Claire’s alright?”

Audrey shakes her head as Duke turns back around. “But I did get a hold of Nathan, he’s got our heading and the Coast Guard is headed our way.”

“I think it’ll be the first time I’ll be happy to see them. Oh, and Ezra’s a mind reader. Just in case you missed it.” Duke rolls his shoulders looking off towards where Ezra had disappeared.

Audrey frowns, trying to line that up with what she knows. “I don’t think he is, it doesn’t fit with what’s happened.”

Duke glances at her again, narrowing his eyes. “You got a better idea? ‘Cause we’re gonna have to stall until the Coast Guard gets here.”

“I think I do, how good’s your hearing?”

-

Nathan’s certain he’s never been so happy to see the _Rouge_ in his life, even if it is feet below where it should be on the slip.

Needing to be useful, and wanting to make sure Parker’s alright he goes over and offers a hand up for Claire. She looks tired and worn, but gratefully accepts the assistance. Even with most of his focus on Parker—she’s talking to one of the coast guard, probably about something or other—he hauls Claire up easily, waving off her thanks as she lands on the slip.

Of course now there’s a ramp to the _Rouge_ and all Nathan can really do is stand by it awkwardly as Parker climbs up, escorting one of the two would be thieves. “You wanna take him?” She asks with an arched eyebrow, as if she already knows the answer.

“No,” he finds he doesn’t want to do anything remotely related to police work at the moment in fact; Duke would probably be proud. Letting his desire for Parker overrun everything else.

Speaking of Duke, he stops to join them, glaring a hole in the back of the other thief, being handed off to Rebecca. “So there’s no way I can convince you to let me have an hour with them alone?” Nathan’s eyes narrow, not quite sure how he feels about Duke’s tone.

The thief next to Parker flinches, while she just gives a cheerful smile. “Nope.” she reaches out with her free hand and pats Duke’s cheek—a sight that leaves Nathan feeling...tangled. “Now I’m going to deal with this guy and be right back.” His gaze follows her as she walks her crook towards the waiting squad car.

He tears his gaze away to look at Duke, who seems to be staring off into nothing. “Everyone’s alright though?”

“Yeah,” Duke sighs and rakes a hand through his hair. “Except for, you know, the _crack_ in my boat, everything’s _fine_.”

Nathan doesn’t flinch, actually he’s a little surprised that Garland’s range is that far. There’s an urge in his mind, wanting to reach out and _touch_ someone, hoping the feeling will help recenter him. If he can do it under the guise of holding Duke back well, so much the better probably. Instead he clenches his fists, not exactly happy with his sudden need for touch.

Parker thankfully does return, “well I don’t know about you, but I’m going to head back to my room and sleep for a week.” At the bottom of his gaze Nathan sees one of his hands start to move towards her, he quickly pulls it back.

Duke sniggers. “Good luck, knowing Haven we’ll have the apocalypse to deal with tomorrow, you know, the usual.” Granted Duke looks about as tired as Parker does; Nathan can commiserate, his own worry having kept him up for much of the night.

“You’re probably right,” Parker responds with a mock sigh. Her gaze falls between the two of them and she stiffens slightly. Nathan manages a peek and sees her boss standing expectantly. “Excuse me.” Seemingly deliberately she walks between the two of them, knocking them both with her shoulders; her hand brushes his and the feel of it is what he thinks electricity feels like.

He wants to focus on the conversation she’s having, except that Duke notices Garland by the coast guard and begins marching that way.

At least Nathan wasn’t wrong about touch helping him refocus, he just didn’t really expect for it to be what amounted to a wrestling match with Duke. One that’s only broken up by the sound of Parker clearing her throat.

The both of them scramble upright, and he’s pretty sure he hears Stan bite off a laugh. Parker’s expression is amused. “Your eyes are silver,” which is clearly directed at Duke, her features turning thoughtful.

“So?” Duke snaps defensively, and Nathan wants to bump him for being rude, except he’s fairly certain it will get them fighting again.

Parker shrugs. “I’ll just grill you about it later I guess. Nathan,” her eyelids almost look like they’re drooping as she turns her gaze to him. “You’re taking me back to the motel. Duke, get some sleep, and try not to get in trouble.” She yawns.

Nathan happily helps her to the Bronco, the only thing really going through his mind right now is _safe_. And that she’s letting him do this for her.

-

Duke nearly falls face first onto the _Amphitrite_ , a sure a sign as any that Parker’s right he needs to sleep—the _Rouge_ might have a real bed but he’s not sure he can sleep with the bilge pumps working overtime. But first…

Stumbling into the hold he pops out a floorboard, reaching in he pulls out a long narrow tube, which for a second seems to pulse under his touch. Good, he thinks as he puts it back. Those two assholes might have thought they’d gotten what they were looking for. But if they’d somehow managed to get away with the box, well when they opened it they’ve been disappointed to realize it was empty; like he’d hold something _this_ valuable on the _Rouge_.

That done he makes his way to the captain’s cabin, where the hammock he keeps in lieu of a bed looks far more inviting than it has any right to. Kicking off his shoes he collapses into it, the sway of it reminding him of the better part of his childhood.

Even with the sunlight pouring through the portholes he falls asleep quickly.

-

Vince stands on the slight rise to the side of the harbor, and watches as the last of the police leave.

“She’s all yours now,” something akin to wry amusement fills Howard’s voice as ‘he’ approaches—Vince has long since learned it’s a tick of many old spells, their age seeming to grant them the ability to mimic human emotion.

“Good,” he responds. This peak has him more worried than the previous ones, everything had nearly broken the last time, and it wouldn’t do for him and the Guard to let things get that far again. To be fair this time there at least weren’t any unknown variables to deal with like last time.

A brief moment of silence passes between them, Vince isn’t sure that Howard can think much of anything, but Vince finds himself happy that there’s at least a brief moment of peace this morning.

“I’m...concerned over something.” Howard speaks slowly, as if trying to decide if those are the best words.

“What about?” Vince’s own eyes narrow, Howard might only be aping human emotion, but the fact that he’s speaking of his thoughts that way is telling in and of itself. “Did something happen?”

Howard shakes his head. “Nothing unexpected happened. It is just, the two men, they seem more involved than before.” A frown crosses his face.

Vince finds himself echoing the frown. “Nathan and Duke?” When Howard nods Vince finds himself relaxing. “They’re nothing to worry about. They’ve never interfered before, and if Nathan had the mind to Duke would stop him. That boy knows his history, why we do it this way. He knows what will happen if the pact’s broken.” His blood helped create it after all; there was a reason peaks went smoother when a Crocker lived in Haven—even with the...aberration his father had had to deal with a few peaks ago.

“Then I will put it from my concerns,” Howard nods. “Is there anything else I am needed for?”

“No,” Vince answers absently. His mind thinking on the next seven months. So much so that he doesn’t even notice when Howard vanishes, returned to the Barn.

This time he and the Guard won’t fail, no one will die again and she won’t be in any danger.


	9. Chapter 9

Audrey falls into the couch and gives a quiet huff. “Why am I doing this again?”

Across the coffee table Claire laughs, brightly, from her own chair. “Because it’s mandatory for joining the force?” She arches a perfect eyebrow. “It’s only three sessions, not the end of the world.”

Says her, it’s not like Audrey’s _afraid_ , she’s just never liked being analyzed like this—performance reviews had been horrible too. Audrey knows she’ll survive, but she’s also not sure she’ll like what comes out of them. “So are we going to do the whole fearless thing?” Part of her is genuinely interested in experiencing no fear for a few hours, but on the other hand she prides herself, at least a little, on her self control and giving something away like that makes her uncomfortable.

“If you’d like to, but it’s not actually a requirement.” Claire picks up her teacup—she’d offered some to Audrey, but she’s never been much of a tea person—and blows at the surface; while Audrey herself feels some relief. “I leave it up to the client.”

“I think I’ll pass,” Audrey finally responds. “How does that work for you anyways?” She doesn’t think Claire needs it to survive, but for all she knows the other woman does.

Not even the rim of her tea cup can hide Claire’s smile. “We’ve barely even started and you’re already deflecting Audrey? I think that might be a new record.”

She can feel a flush of embarrassment creep up her neck. Her eyes spot a loose thread on the couch and she picks at it. “So how does this work?” She’d done a psych profile when she joined the FBI, but she hadn’t had to see a therapist.

“Well,” Audrey hears the soft clink of Claire putting her cup down. “If you were a long term client we’d spend this session setting up our long and short term goals, what you wanted to work on. But since you’re here in an evaluation capacity I only have to determine that you’re mentally capable for the job and that you don’t have any biases.”

When she puts it like that it makes perfect sense to Audrey, especially here in Haven. “I would think one session would be enough?”

“It’s not,” Claire’s tone is matter of fact. “So, how about we start with why you decided to quit the FBI to join a small town police force?” She leans back slightly against the chair, more than willing to wait for her answer.

Audrey sighs and finds herself staring out the windows, Claire really does have a great view, Audrey can see quite a bit of the town. “You know Haven is the first place I really feel I belong?” Lying or evading questions wasn’t likely to get her what she wanted, and in a way it’d be nice to get this all off her chest.

“How so?” Claire’s voice is soft, Audrey would almost call it professionally curious.

“I’ve been all over the US, and Canada once,” which hadn’t been as fun as she thought it would be. “And everywhere I’ve gone I’ve felt sort of...disconnected from everything. Like, like I was on a different wavelength from everyone else. But here,” she sighs again. “Here everything just seems to _fit_ , I’ve been here what, nearly two months now? And I already _care_ about this place and the people more than I should.” Being here feels _right_ , which should be terrifying. “I should be scared of that, but I’m not,” she admits; part of her just happy she’s found some place where she doesn’t feel out of step with everyone else.

There’s a brief beat of silence, then. “Do you think it has to do with the cycle?”

Audrey’s head jerks from the window to stare are Claire, who’s calmly drinking her tea. “What?”

“I was only about six, but I remember Lucy.” There’s a faint smile on her face. “I hadn’t come into my powers yet, we usually don’t until puberty, but she’d stopped by to talk to my father, he’d been having some problems. She came over a few minutes before he would leave for work, my mom offered to stop what she was doing and be a good hostess, but Lucy just shook her head and sat down right on the floor with me.” The smile grows slightly as she gives a brief huff of laughter. “I thought myself quite the artist at the time, and she did what any good adult should do, told me it beautiful.

“I’d heard about her of course from some of the other kids in school, that she was special and important. So I offered to let her use my good crayons. She laughed and told me she wasn’t much of an artist, but that there was something she could do. She taught me how to make an origami crane. Then my dad came home and they talked, and after that,” Claire shrugs. “His problems didn’t go away immediately, but over time he got better at his self control.”

Audrey...doesn’t know how to feel about that. It’s true she knows a lot about Lucy, and Sarah, and she’s starting to get gleanings of Maggie, but they’ve always been broad sort of strokes ‘she liked the ocean’ or ‘she was very no nonsense when it came to work’. But Claire’s story seems more intimate than those, a brief glimpse at a woman who didn’t mind being entertained by children, who knew origami. “Thank you, for telling me.” The words feel inadequate, but they’re all she can give Claire.

Claire gives a smile. “Perhaps I should be thanking you. She’s the reason I decided to got into therapy.”

“So you think I’m the same person?” The idea still sort of unsettles Audrey, that sometime in the next twenty seven years something is going to happen to her that erases completely who she is, only to be ‘replaced’ by someone new; how could that _not_ scare her?

A brief shrug. “I’m not sure what to think, what are your thoughts? Perhaps still, it’s this returning, whether you’re the same body or a descendant of, that makes Haven feel like home?”

“Maybe,” Audrey’s never thought of it in that context. “I don’t know. I just,” she crosses her arms. “I want to _know_ , was Lucy my mother? Sarah my grandmother? Why do we keep coming here? If I am their descendant why don’t I remember Lucy? Why would she abandon me? If I am the same person why do I keep coming back to Haven every twenty seven years? Why am I a new person every time?

“It’s, I, sometimes it’s just so fucking overwhelming.” Audrey slumps against the back of the couch, drained. The leather feels cool and supple against her cheek. “I have trouble sleeping from time to time. Stress I think, and it’ll be late at night, or maybe,” she makes a little sound. “Very early in the morning is better. Anyway, I’ll be in bed, staring at my ceiling and I’ll find myself wondering ‘what if I just leave?’ Not even take anything with me, just get in my rental car and drive as far away from here as I can. What would happen to Haven? To Me?”

“Everyone has thoughts like that sometimes,” Claire responds. “Do you _want_ to leave Haven? That seems like a more important question.”

Audrey doesn’t have to think hard to answer it. “No, no I don’t.” Her mind goes to Nathan, to Duke, to the people she’s met and helped since she got here. “But,” she exhales noisily. “Those nights, I also feel like I don’t have a choice, like I have to be in Haven whether I want to or not.” Those nights, if she does manage some sleep she finds she always wakes up from nightmares like that, that she’s trapped in Haven like a bug in a jar.

“Do these thoughts incur during the daytime, or only at night? And do you think you can feel trapped even if you want to stay? Some would say that’s counter intuitive.”

“Only at night,” she answers quietly. “And yes I can,” Audrey watches her finger trace random doodles in the other seat of the couch. “For all I know it’s some strange Stockholm syndrome thing, although before today I never would have thought a _town_ could engender that.”

Out of the corner of her eye Audrey sees Claire give a slight nod. “Well this is Haven, I dare say stranger things might have happened. And it could be said that the attitude of the town as a whole feeds into that, we’re...protective of each other.” Her lips twitch slightly. “Even the ones of us who think the supernatural are evil and damned to hell.”

Before Haven Audrey had meet plenty of fire and brimstone preachers, but before Reverend Driscoll she would have thought the ‘fire and brimstone’ part completely metaphorical—even if Nathan says the Driscolls have never ‘consorted’ with the supernatural, and alright she had laughed slightly when he’d said it because who used the word ‘consorted’ these days? “You might be an evil person but you’re _my_ evil person?”

“Yes,” Claire answers with a light laugh. Her eyes glance at the watch on her wrist. “Well that’s time. Do you have a day and time you’d prefer the second session to be on? I have some openings on Saturday, in the morning, but after that nothing until Tuesday.”

“Saturday’s fine,” Audrey says as she stands. “Nine alright?”

Claire nods. “I’ll see you then. I hope you have a good rest of your week, and definitely think about what we’ve said. Maybe think of some more things you’d like to talk about.” Which sounds to Audrey a lot like a ‘regular’ session, but Audrey also finds she likes talking to Claire about it; and maybe talking will help her figure things out.

She gives a little wave before she exits through the door. As she leaves the building her stomach grumbles, and despite all the things weighing her mind down she finds a faint smile tugging at her mouth.

-

A knock on the frame of the door draws Nathan out of his paperwork. Looking up he sees Parker standing in the doorway of their...no just his again, office. “Hey stranger,” there’s a smile on her face as she walks up to his desk. “So I hope you remember I owe you lunch.”

“Hi,” he thinks he might be smiling in response. “And I’m pretty sure it’s dinner.”

“Nothing gets past you does it?” She waves a hand as if to bat it all aside. “But really a meal’s a meal, come on. I’m starving.”

He gives a fond sigh, she’s never been afraid to take what she wants, but Parker doesn’t seem to be afraid to let other people know what she wants and he finds it oddly heddy—it’s enough to make him entertain the dangerous thought of what that would be like in the bedroom—but stands. “It’s not taco Tuesday at the Gull,” he doesn’t doubt that’s where they’re going.

“I know,” her own sigh is a gusty one. “I think it’s my eternal curse or something, to never experience taco Tuesday; although I have to wonder if it’s as good as the hype.” She arches a questioning eyebrow.

“I’ve never really been down to Mexico, so I don’t know if Duke’s tacos are ‘authentic’ but they’re not half bad.” He gives a brief wave to Stan, who waves back before returning his focus to his phone call.

“Stop the presses,” Parker gasps. “Nathan Wuornos _complimenting_ Duke Crocker?”

He’s probably blushing and he doesn’t like it. “I don’t hate him _that_ much Parker.”

She arches that questioning eyebrow of hers again, but this time he firmly ignores it as they climb into the Bronco and drive off towards the Gull.

The lot there is nearly full up, which is echoed by the inside of the restaurant, the greeter—Monique, a culebra he’s pretty sure—leads them out back, where the sounds inside are slightly canceled out by the ocean. With the sun shining as it is even he thinks it’s nice.

They’re barely alone for five minutes, most of which for Nathan is spent going over the menu even if he already knows what he’s getting, before Duke crashes their table, setting three steaming mugs before them.

“Drink up, you’re playing guinea pigs for me today,” his smile is full of easygoing charm as he sits.

Nathan narrows his eyes at the mug in front of him. “What is it?” It’s opaque, with undissolved granules floating on the surface, it has a spicy coffee smell that’s actually quite pleasant.

“Nasty chai,” Duke responds easily as Nathan watches Parker pick up her mug and give it a tentative sniff.

“I’ve heard of a dirty chai,” she sets her mug back down, must be too hot still. “But what’s a nasty chai?”

Duke picks up his own mug and sips. “Chai with kahlua.”

Nathan’s eyes narrow even more if possible and he pushes his mug away slightly. “I’m on the clock,” he gets out.

Parker seems to bite back a smile while Duke rolls his eyes. “Yes Nathan, because a shot and a half of kahlua is enough to impair you even a little bit.’

“Well if he doesn’t want it,” Parker reaches out and snags his mug. “I’ve got no clock at all right now, so I’ll get as impaired as I want.”

“That’s the spirit,” Duke’s grin returns.

It’s strange to think that Parker isn’t officially working with him anymore; at least not for another week. He knows if there’s a problem she’ll gladly come in, but until Claire finishes her review the chief can’t actually hire her. “How’d your session with Claire go?” It escapes him before he can think to stop it.

Parker shrugs. “Alright, I guess. We talked about things I didn’t expect us to.” Reaching out again she takes her mug and attempts a sip. “And that’s all you’re going to get out of me detective,” despite her words there’s a teasing note in her voice. “This is really good Duke.”

He sketches a bow in his seat. “Why thank you Audrey. You know,” he waggles his eyebrows and Nathan gives a derisive snort. “You could come work for me, set your own hours. Good food, good company…” he drifts off suggestively.

Bless her heart, Audrey throws her head back and laughs—thankfully Duke doesn’t seem to take it the wrong way. “And spend days at sea with little to no bathing water?” She reaches out and pats Duke’s shoulder. “Thanks but no thanks Duke.”

Duke gives a haughty sniff. “I meant at the Gull, but fine. I see how it is.” His expression turns vaguely canny and Nathan finds he’s bracing himself for the worst. “But hey, since you’re sticking around if you ever want someplace more permanent than your hotel room I’ve got an apartment I’m more than willing to rent.” He gestures to the second floor of the Gull, which as far as Nathan knows Duke’s always used as either storage or overnighting when he spends too much time here.

Objectively Nathan knows it’s probably a good place for her, but that doesn’t stop the strange tangle of jealousy and...frustration? Deciding it’s better to ignore it he shoves it into a dark corner of his mind.

It’s not as if he can _reasonably_ offer her a place at his own house, first off he only has one bedroom—and he’s certain they’re not _that_ comfortable with each other just yet—and second if he offered now it would only sound like he’s ‘competing’ with Duke. He’d only offered to Sarah after they’d been together for a month—in his mind she already lived with him for all intents and purposes—she’d given a firm, but kindly ‘no’, and never talked about it again.

“I don’t know,” Audrey takes another sip of her drink. “What’s rent going to be like?” She sounds, not quite teasing, but certainly playful. It adds to the tangle in him and he thinks he’ll be more than happy to bury himself in paperwork again when this is all over.

A shrug as Duke takes a sip from his own mug. “Two-fifty a month? I’m up for negotiation.” Nathan’ll bet his is; he takes a drink from his water and wishes _someone_ would come and take their order. Having food in front of him would at least give him _something_ to do other than stare out towards the open ocean and think about Parker, and Sarah and the multitude of other things he’d rather not touch right now.

He gets his wish, sort of. A waiter, tray laden with food, stop by their table and unloads a burger in front of Nathan and fish and chips in front of Parker. Which meant that either Parker had called ahead and placed an order, unlikely; or Duke had done it, somehow. Of the two he’s more inclined towards Duke and narrows his eyes at the other man, who’s clearly reaching out to snag a fry from Audrey.

“What?” Duke sounds defensive. “Like I can’t tell when you’re heading over.” He probably can, Duke’s senses are a lot more heightened than Nathan’s, even with them compensating for his lack of touch.

Picking up a fry of his own, and finding himself biting back a smile as Parker bats Duke’s hand away, he takes a bite, and Duke must be adding something to his salt because there’s a little hint of ‘musty’ that pique’s Nathan’s curiosity. “But why a burger?” He’ll eat it, and probably enjoy it, but it still baffles him.

Duke rolls his eyes. “Maybe because there’s more to life than pancakes Nathan,” there’s a note of exasperation, and something else in his voice.

Parker snorts. “He’s got you there Nathan.” She points a fry at him but then quickly turns it on Duke. “And don’t you dare say lunch is on the house today, because I’m buying and I won’t have you ruining it.”

Nathan stares down at his food and refuses to do anything other than eat, how did this happen to him?

“And how did you manage that?” Of course Duke wants to know.

“I won a bet,” is all Parker says much to his relief. “But enough embarrassing Nathan,” internally Nathan finds himself breathing a sigh of relief, and has to wonder how much he’s blushing if Parker’s deciding to put an end to it. “Silver eyes Duke? Spill.”

As Duke plays coy and Parker relentlessly continues to question him Nathan finds himself, strangely considering his early tangle, relaxing. Maybe it’s the food, he had eaten breakfast but it had still been a while ago, or maybe the sound of the ocean—or perhaps, some more distant part of himself points out, it’s because you’re with the two people you trust most. But by the end of lunch he finds himself biting back laughter as Duke manages to weasel his way out of admitting anything.

Despite whatever burning desire Parker has to know there’s amusement in her own gaze as she starts drinking from the mug she’d stolen from Nathan. “You’re gonna spill your guts Crocker,” she raises a threatening hand. “Even if I have to try and tickle it out of you.”

Duke’s wearing a grin on his own face as he stands up. “I’ll never talk,” he responds with mock-seriousness.

Nathan can’t help it anymore and finds himself laughing, he’d forgotten how good it could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry no Duke POV this chapter, hopefully the next chapter will make up for that.
> 
> And yes...that's totally a FDTD reference...


	10. Chapter 10

Audrey knows it’s breaking their ‘long-standing’ agreement to meet Nathan every morning for coffee, but she finds herself so happy about having a _job_ again that she can’t wait to head in. So she’s in _their_ office with her coffee before Nathan is, or even most of the day shift, but she doesn’t care.

So it shouldn’t surprise her when about twenty minutes later there’s hurried footsteps, followed by Nathan’s, “there you are. I was worried.” She finds herself warming slightly.

And to be fair, it doesn’t surprise her, although she could have been more thoughtful and texted him. No, what does surprise her is that when she finally looks up from her laptop at Nathan he’s standing in the doorway, dress like she’s come to expect from him, except…

“Are those flowers in your hair?” It comes out slightly disbelieving, like she’s hallucinating the butter yellow flowers that he’s wearing in some sort of woven crown.

He frowns, as if her question’s caught him off guard. “Yes,” he finally answers. “I’m wearing flowers. It’s May Day,” he says as if that should explain it.

She can feel an answering frown cross her own face. “Is this a Haven thing? Or is this some supernatural thing?” She hadn’t noticed anyone else this morning with flowers in their hair, but to be fair she also hadn’t exactly been looking out for it.

“Both,” he says as he actually enters the office, coming to a stop right in front of her desk. “Come on, we need to get you suited up before we head out.”

She stands, even if she has misgivings. “Head out? And I seriously hope getting ‘suited up’ doesn’t include flowers of my own.” She’s never been one for flowers, either growing them or giving them, certainly not _wearing_ them.

Nathan doesn’t notice her expression however because he’s already turned around and is heading out the door. “I’ll explain along the way,” he throws over his shoulder.

His explanation, once they get into the Bronco and are headed down Main street consist of this: May Day is when a select group of people head out to the Brambles to meet with the _fairies_ who live there, where they’re good neighbors and threaten each other—a concept as a whole which escapes Audrey, threatening being high on her list of ‘unfriendly’ things—and yes, the flowers are required.

They make a brief stop at the Looking Glass Florist, where Henri and Mark seeming to be doing a swinging business, so apparently it’s a _thing_. But Mark—with his own russet hair threaded with orange flowers—takes the time to do her hair, all while she keeps her narrowed eyes focused on Nathan. “You take a picture and I swear I’ll swap out your sugar for salt. For a week.” She could probably get Duke in on it, he’d enjoy that.

Nathan holds his hands up, as if to prove he’s not going for his phone while Mark finishes up bedecking her with pale yellow flowers; he called them primroses.

Then they’re off again, Audrey feeling ridiculous—but vaguely comforted by the fact that at least she’s not the only one wearing flowers—as Nathan drives them into the Brambles. Nathan parks in a clearing, where she recognizes Duke’s truck, plus three other cars she doesn’t know. Somehow the idea of Duke being in the same boat as her brightens her outlook.

She follows Nathan, into the clearing where the rest of this ‘party’ is waiting for them. She glances over Duke, for now, and the mayor, pauses briefly on Vince, mainly because there’s no Dave, then focuses on the final two, whom she doesn’t recognize.

The man is well, big, probably about as tall as Nathan or Duke, if not taller, with short blond hair requisite flowers in it, and quite a bit of muscle. The young girl at his side looks like she might be his daughter, her own blonde hair pulled back into a braid with flowers in it, an excited grin on her face. They’re also both armed—Audrey realizes with a bit of a shock that almost everyone is—the girl only has a...dagger on her belt, but her dad, well Audrey’s pretty sure she’s only seen hammers like that in fantasy movies.

“Dwight,” Nathan sounds...well pleased as he goes up to the other man and they shake hands and do one of those guy hugs. “Good to see you.”

“Same,” Dwight smiles, sound far more friendly than Audrey expects. “Been a while.”

Nathan nods, then crouches down. “Good to see you too Lizzie, your dad finally letting you tag along?”

“Yeah!” She glances up at her dad and her smile somehow gets bigger. “He says I’m finally old enough to learn the cool things, he even let me skip school!” Ah, that would explain the excitement.

“Parker,” she gives a small start at Nathan’s voice and trots over. Getting herself formally introduced to the both of them.

“It’s time,” the mayor says, everyone turning to him, except her, when he speaks—she’s not quite sure _what_ he is, but it seems that everyone _loves_ him, and it’s actually kind of creepy. And like that they start hiking in. It’s probably a good thing she let Nathan convince her to buy good hiking boots.

Duke sidles up to the both of them, he holds out what she thinks is a spear as they walk. “You’ll probably want this.”

“I’m fairly certainly I’m more likely to hurt myself with that than anyone else.” Her eyes flick up to his hair, pulled back into a ponytail with a crown of red-orange and yellow flowers tipped rakishly over his forehead, somehow it makes him even more attractive. “And that’s sort of not fair.”

Duke grins. “You don’t actually need to _do_ anything with it, just hold it and make angry faces. And what’s not fair?” She’s pretty sure his ‘innocent’ tone is completely faked, but he really could have no idea.

“That your flowers make you look much more attractive, while I just feel ridiculous.” Gingerly she takes the spear, still not sure about it; she would think her gun would be enough.

“I think you look lovely,” Nathan blurts out next to her, and she has to bite back a pleased smile.

However Duke doesn’t and she’s pretty sure Nathan’s blushing out of the corner of her eye. “Well if you feel that way Parker you’re welcome to them for a few minutes,” he lifts the crown off and places it on her head, she barely even notices it. “I’ve got something I need to do, but I’ll want it back when I’m done.” Not giving her a chance to protest he jogs off, which is about when she realizes he’s not armed like everyone else.

Her gaze turns back to Nathan and realizes that he’s in the same boat as Duke. “So why is it that I’ve apparently got to haul this around,” she gives the spear a shake. “But you and Duke don’t have to worry about that sort of thing apparently.”

Nathan’s blush has died away, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips. “Duke’s getting his own...weapons right now. As for me,” he gives a shrug. “I don’t really need anything to be threatening to the fairies.” Part of her mind still can’t comprehend that, she’s going to meet _fairies_ , a new level of strange even for Haven—sure there were the selkies last month, but her mind hadn’t really made the connection.

On the other hand what on Earth could Nathan be that apparently all he needs to be threatening is himself? But really how could anything be _less_ threatening than a creature the size of her hand?

Footsteps, that take her a moment to realize are slightly... _off_ , come from behind her and Nathan, probably Duke catching up. She turns to tease him about whatever sort of weapon he might be carrying, except it’s not Duke behind them.

It’s a...her mind stutters for a moment because this is the biggest damn wolf she’s ever seen, she didn’t even know the could _get_ that big. Maybe it’s a good thing Duke gave her a spear, she’s not sure she could get to her gun in time. Except the more Audrey stares at it, the more her brain actually processes what her eyes are seeing.

Because it’s not quite a wolf; wolves, she’s certain, are not quite that muscular in the chest area, or have elbows, or what looks like opposable thumbs—with some wicked looking claws—for that matter. It’s fur is a darkish brown, and the eyes, the eyes are _silver_. She frowns. “Duke?” The uncertainty in her voice is actually sort of comforting.

It, _he_ , opens it’s mouth, showing off some truly terrifying teeth, and his tongue lolls, like a dog that’s so damned pleased with itself. She forces herself not to move as he gets closer.

“Are the both of you going to hurry things up?” Mayor Brody sounds impatient and Duke’s head snaps up to focus on him—so apparently whatever he is works on animals too? Or is it just because Duke’s a…

“Werewolf,” she finds herself sputtering as Duke comes to a stop right in front of her, in this...form his head is actually eye level with hers, it’s disconcerting. “You’re a werewolf.”

Duke makes a sound she thinks is supposed to be encouraging, he must not be able to speak in this form, and his eyes glance up at her hair. Right, his crown. Taking it off her own head she places it on his, which dispels some of the terrifying at least.

His...muzzle noses at her shoulder, trying to get her to turn. Right, fairies to threaten. Although she’s not sure how she can even manage to be intimidating when her brain’s still stuck on ‘Duke’s a werewolf.’

As they begin walking again, she’s pretty sure if he wanted to he could outpace her easily, she can’t help but keep glancing at him. “I hope you know we’re talking about this when you’re back to your human form.” She’s got a lot of questions, most of them concerning what was and wasn’t true regarding what she knew about werewolves.

His head bobs, which means he at least can understand her. Her gaze flicks back ahead to where Nathan’s waiting for them. “You could have told me,” she gripes, shaking her spear in what she hopes is a threatening manner.

Nathan gets an all too pleased smile on his face. “What, and spoil the surprise?”

Surprise her ass, she thinks as they step into a clearing. “Is whatever you are going to scare the shit out of me when I see it?” She doesn’t think she’ll get an actual answer, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

His expression is almost comical, and totally worth it. “That hurts Parker.” His voice is full of faux solemnity. “I’m only what you see before you.”

Her laughter has Vince and the mayor frowning at her, but she doesn’t care. “Right. I know you’ve got hidden depths Wuornos. You can’t hide anything from me.”

Nathan blushes and looks away, while next to her she thinks Duke is laughing.

-

Duke walks carefully as they head back, Lizzie clinging to his back and seeming to have a grand old time, even if he’s not going all that fast—for a baby squatch she’s not so bad. And her first threat was kind of adorable, makes him glad that even in Haven there’s such a thing as a ‘normal’ childhood.

One of her booted feet digs into his shoulder, and he’s definitely going to have a bruise later. “Come on Duke! Faster!” He’s been wondering when she’d try to start that. Her attempt at a howl makes him smile however.

But despite her insistence, Duke keeps his pace; he can smell the worry on Dwight, and knows full well how much of a Bad Idea it is to piss off a berserker.

Although in this form it might possibly be something close to a fair fight, for all of five minutes; they’d probably be helluva five minutes. Still, Duke likes his hide where it is thank you very much.

Next to him Audrey’s deep in thought, deep enough that he and Nathan have to nudge her every once in a while, otherwise she’d be running into trees and bushes. He wonders if she’s still thinking about what the Queen had called her. ‘Guardian.’

He’s fairly sure it’s the same epitaph she’s always called, but...something about it niggles at him. Is she called that just because she helps keep Haven safe while she’s here? Or is because of something else? He would have dismissed that second question, except for the fact that Vince had tensed slightly when the Queen had called Audrey that.

And everyone in town knows it’s the Teagues’ who know almost every _thing_ in town. So if Vince knew something, and he’s not inclined to talk, well, clearly that bore investigating.

But Duke wonders when he’ll have time to look into it. Even with putting a temporary halt to his smuggling he’s still got the Gull to run, and he’s got to finish doing set up for Founders Day in two weeks. Which is a lot more work than he’d like, with little time for himself. Unless…

He glances at Nathan, unless he asks for help. Since it’s about Audrey he doesn’t doubt Nathan will say ‘yes’, but part of him doesn’t like asking for help. It’s instinct, attempting to keep him safe from all avenues of attack. Which is handy when he’s on the clock, but not when it comes to anything else.

Ostensibly he shouldn’t believe in Hell, on the other hand he knows someone who came from there, either way he hopes that his father’s there, suffering whatever punishment he rightly deserves.

-

With May Day over Nathan can relax a little; Founders Day isn’t that big of a worry crime wise—there’ll be some drunk and disorderlies, maybe some vandalism, but nothing too serious. And there’s the usual supernatural problems too, but those are everyday sorts of things. Which means that really all he needs to start bracing himself for is the end of October.

For when Audrey will vanish, Halloween fast on her heels.

Even if he can’t feel pain the idea of it _hurts_. Makes him close his eyes and bury his face in his hands.

It feels even more daunting this time, the things he and Claire have been talking about have taken root in his brain. But he finds he doesn’t _want_ to think that he can do something to change what happens, because it opens up the dark rabbit hole of ‘could I have _always_ done something?’ And that’s not a place he wants to go. Doesn’t want to think about how he could have possibly saved Constance, or Maggie, or Lucy, or Viola. Saved _Sarah_.

A knock on the doorframe yanks him from those thoughts, thank heavens, he glances up in surprise to see Duke standing there. “I hope you’re here to pay off some of your parking tickets,” it comes out of his mouth without him meaning to; although he has no idea why Duke _doesn’t_ pay his tickets, it’s not like he doesn’t have the money.

“Now Nathan,” Duke gives a shake of his head as he steps into the office. “What kind of man would I be if I did that?” There’s a hint of something in Duke’s voice that Nathan wishes he understood, that maybe if he were a tad bit smarter, or Duke less canny, things between them wouldn’t be so...whatever they were.

Still Nathan finds himself snorting as Duke takes a seat. “A law abiding citizen?”

“Exactly.” Duke’s cocksure grin bothers Nathan.

“What do you want then?” He’s more than happy to take out some of his current frustration on Duke.

The cocksure smile falls away. “Is Audrey around?”

“No, she went to get coffee.” Nathan frowns, not exactly liking where this might be headed. “Why?”

Duke sighs, runs a hand through his hair—it’s longer than Nathan can remember it ever being, he has to wonder if Duke’s doing it on purpose or if he’s just being forgetful—then leans his chair back on it’s two back legs. “Do you remember what the Queen called her yesterday?”

 _“Welcome once again Guardian, it pleases me to see you once more.”_ “Yeah,” it’s hard to forget. But he doesn’t see what the problem with it is, it’s what she gets called every time she participates in May Day. “What about it?”

Duke shrugs. “I don’t know, didn’t it feel _important_ to you? Like it means something we’re not getting?”

Nathan has to think on that. Is Duke right? Or is he seeing connections where there are none. “The Queen calls Vince ‘Guard’, seems sort of similar. Maybe it’s just a catch all title.”

“If it’s catch all why didn’t Dwight get called it then, he’s got no real official designation.” Duke has a point.

“Alright, maybe it’s something. Want me to look into it?” He can’t see another reason Duke would mention it. For some reason he finds himself pleased by it, but why? It’s not like Duke to ask for help, let alone ask for help from Nathan.

Slouching in his chair slightly Duke runs a hand through his hair again, “yeah. I’d appreciate that. My plate’s pretty full right now.” Right, with Founders Day just around the corner Duke gets pulled in about a thousand different directions. According to the history books Roy Crocker was the first mayor of Haven, and even if Duke hadn’t followed in his grandfather’s, and father’s, footsteps a lot of the longer lived supernatural still sort of look to him, even if they don’t really like him; he’s certainly heard Duke complain about it enough either way. “But maybe not tell Audrey?”

“Not tell me what?” Parker asks from the doorway, not sounding angry...yet.

Duke’s ‘oh shit’ expression is almost comical, and he can see the other man clearly start to scramble for a lie. But if Nathan’s serious about wanting to change things with Parker this time than being honest might be key. “Duke thought the title the Queen called you yesterday was worth investigating.”

The betrayed expression Duke gives him doesn’t stop Nathan from deciding it’s a good idea.

Parker walks over to his desk, he finds himself pleased to notice she got him a coffee too. “Did he now?” And there’s the promised anger in Parker’s voice, he’s just glad it’s not directed at him. Setting his coffee in front of him she turns to face Duke and leans her hip against the side of the desk, he can’t see her face, but he’s more than willing to bet she’s giving Duke her best interrogation face.

“Look,” Nathan’s not sure if Duke’s going to try and save face or honestly explain, but Nathan’s certain that whichever he chooses Parker will remember. “I just,” Duke gives a gusty sigh. “I wasn’t trying to go behind your back to try and keep you safe Audrey. I just, didn’t want to get your hopes up. It could be nothing. And I didn’t want to waste your time with a possible false lead.”

Parker doesn’t look like she’s going to let up completely, but something in her stance does ease. “Why did you think it was important? Did it remind you of something or did it just feel strange?” It awes Nathan a little to see her like this, so focused.

This time Duke slumps even further in his chair, far enough that his head is propped against the back. “It just sounded....strange to me, out of place. She’s always called you that, and I don’t know why neither of us thought it weird before now.” Well when Duke puts it that way maybe there _is_ something to it. “And…” Duke drifts off, face pinched together for a second. “Maybe it reminded me of something?” A sound of annoyance leaves him and he tilts his head up to stare at the ceiling. “But I think I heard it so long ago that I can’t remember it, at least not clearly.”

Which is when Parker leaves off completely, if the way her shoulders relax is any indication. “Fine.” He sees her lift up her coffee and take a sip. “I believe you. But next time don’t leave me out okay?”

“Yeah,” Duke answers.

Then she turns to him and narrows her eyes. “And if I hadn’t come in when I did would you have told me about this?” It’s not so fun being on the receiving end of her unhappiness.

And the problem is he’s not sure he would have, admitting the truth after being caught is one thing, but saying it unprompted? He doesn’t know if he’d’ve been able to work up the courage. “I don’t know,” start as you mean to go on right?

Her eyes stay narrowed for a moment but then she nods and heads over to her own desk. “So, we’ve got a woman coming to Haven every twenty seven years who might be a ‘Guardian’.” She falls into her seat and after setting her coffee down pinches the bridge of her nose for a moment. “But ‘Guardian’ of what? And why?”

He and Duke share a look, both unsure if they should be trying to answer the question or not.

Parker sighs. “Neither of you happen to know a psychic who could just gaze up the answers for us in their crystal ball would you?”

Duke stills, as if her words roused something unexpected in him. He’s not the only one who notices. “What?” Parker sounds more curious than impatient.

Frowning Duke doesn’t respond right away, but after a few seconds he does finally speak. “I might have a way to get some answers.” He pulls himself upright then holds up a hand when Parker opens her mouth. “I swear Audrey I’ll tell you. But I want to do it later, if I’m remembering this correctly it’s _dangerous_ if you don’t do it right. And I want to make sure I know how to do it _exactly_ before I tell you.

“Because I don’t want you to get hurt.” As Duke speaks he turns his head and looks directly at Audrey. “So can you wait, please?” Nathan doesn’t think he’s ever heard Duke speak like that before.

Parker looks caught off guard as well, but she soon nods. “Fine. But I’m holding you to that Duke.”

He returns the nod. “Give me a week, maybe two if things at the Gull and setting up get really busy. Then you can bother me to your heart’s content. Otherwise I’ll try to be prepared and all that.” Duke’s head is still turned enough towards Nathan that he can see the hopeful grin on Duke’s face. Nathan clenches his hands into fists to keep from reaching out. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Parker responds, a small smile of her own on her face. “Didn’t know you were a boy scout Duke,” her smile turns teasing.

“Oh I’m definitely not a boy scout Audrey. I mean they didn’t even exist when I was a kid.” And with that Duke stands, nods at the both of them, and leaves. Leaving Nathan to wonder what the hell’s going to happen now.

-

It’s only been a few minutes since Duke left and Audrey finds the quiet is getting to her a little. She looks up to see Nathan intent on his paperwork, and she blows out a quiet sigh, then takes a drink of her coffee. Then finds herself glancing at her web browser again, ‘ _founded in 1907’_ , how old was Duke really?

“What?” Nathan’s question makes her jump slightly.

It would be hypocritical of her to try and deflect considering she’d given them both a sort of talking to about being honest. And in the grand scheme of things this wasn’t anything new. She already knew Duke was older than he looked, she just hadn’t know _how_ old. “Nothing really, just wondering how old Duke is.” She gives him a hopeful look.

Which at least brings a smile to his face, “you could just ask him.” Nathan points out, clearly trying to be unhelpful.

“I know,” and she does keep meaning too, but it falls to the wayside in the face of more important things, like keeping Haven safe—what could be more important than that? “Like I said it’s nothing, just trying to keep my mind busy.” It’s been a slow day, and unlike Nathan she’s already finished her own paperwork.

Nathan smiles again, before taking a sip of his own coffee. It’s hard to miss the surprised expression that crosses his face, must be the Irish cream syrup the barista had put in—granted Audrey had picked it—she likes watching him take pleasure in the senses he does have.

“Thanks,” he raises his coffee slightly.

She gives him a warm smile in response. “Not a problem, you can buy next time.” It’s true he’s bought more coffees, etc. than she has, but on the other hand at 155 years old his bank account must be loaded, so really Audrey’s not going to feel all that bad.

They fall into companionable silence again, at least for another minute. When she looks up from her internet rabbit hole—she’s pretty sure the chief wouldn’t approve—Nathan’s deep in paperwork, his face a study in concentration as he writes. “Hey Nathan?”

“Huh?” He looks up and blinks at her. “What Parker?”

She picks up her own coffee and fiddles with the sleeve. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but. Were you ever able to feel?” She has no idea if it’s a personal question or not, but over the past few months she’d like to say they’ve become good friends, and even better partners. As far as she knows there’s no harm in _asking_.

Nathan’s eyes go distant for a moment. “Yeah,” he finally answers. “Before I became corporeal I could touch.” She’s not even going to try and figure out how that might work, she’s going to trust him on it.

“But I guess when I gained this body...I gave it up.” He shakes his head, “I don’t really remember that first day all that well, it was...chaotic.”

On impulse she stands up and goes over to his desk again, “Do you miss it, being able to feel?” She’s pretty certain that if she weren’t able to feel it would kill her, maybe even literally. She wants to reach out and grab his hand, but doesn’t; right now it feels too cruel.

For the briefest of seconds his expression is one of pure, yearning _want_. And if he never said a word that expression would be answer enough to her question. Except he does speak. “Yes, I do miss it. But…” He drifts off, his expression turning strangely surprised.

“But what?” She prods, so far he hasn’t told her to stop asking, so she doesn’t see anything wrong with pressing.

His eyes meet hers, somehow she always manages to forget how _blue_ his eyes are, they’re almost, well, inhuman. “Can you?” He rests his hand on the desk, palm up in clear invitation.

Since she’d been wanting to anyways she rests her hand in his, fingertips catching slightly against his skin. But her eyes are still looking at Nathan’s face, at how it seems to relax when her hand touches his.

“But,” he exhales shakily. “But I can feel you Parker.” He looks away, his ears turning pale pink. “I always have.”

His words make her stare at their joined hands, part of her in awe, the rest of her caught off guard by the fact that he hasn’t told her before. “Why?” She finds herself asking, which encompasses about a hundred separate questions. She lifts her hand slightly off of his, lets her fingertips trace the lines of his palm, trying to see if she can remember what the palmistry girl at a long ago summer camp tried to teach them all.

In a way she finds she respects Nathan a little more, if he were the only person she could feel she would probably try and make contact as much as she could; he’s only kept contact to what’s required, she wonders if it’s because it’s worse to have flashes of touch then no touch at all?

“Why didn’t I tell you?” He gives a soft huff and raises his hand slightly, lacing their fingers. “To be honest I’ve _never_ told, well, _you_.” Even he seems shocked by this. “You’ve always just, found out.”

When he puts it that way she feels like a bad detective for not having noticed it sooner, but it doesn’t matter now. “And,” he continues. “It’s the obligation thing again. I don’t want you to feel like you have to always touch me.” The color of his ears darkens. “I get by well enough.”

That’s almost sweet. Reaching out with her free hand she cups his cheek. “Well,” she says lightly, choosing to mostly ignore his stunned expression. “Maybe I want to touch you.” In her own mind she’s happy to admit she’s attracted to him, but in the real world she’s wanted to keep things mostly professional. Yet now she finds herself eagerly throwing that idea out the window.

Nathan’s expression somehow grows even more stunned. Part of her wants to lean in and kiss him, but she holds herself back, this is enough for now. She rubs her thumb against his cheek, feeling the slight scratch from his barely noticeable stubble; it becomes harder to resist kissing him as she watches him lean into the touch like a cat, eyes sliding shut.

Christ, that’s, she pulls her hand away from his cheek, feeling her own blush begin to start, his hurt expression makes her feel sort of bad for being so abrupt, but there needs to be _some_ sort of distance. “Sorry. I…” she gives a helpless shrug, not sure how to finish that sentence.

But he gives a little nod, apparently catching her meaning, which is good.

“So, any other things you haven’t told me yet?” She says it as a joke, but his expression grows serious.

“Yes,” he answers, giving her hand a squeeze. The action seems to hold a wealth of meanings now. “You’ll disappear in October.”

-

Usually Duke would keep this sort of stuff at the house, where at least things are slightly _more_ weather-and-whatever-else proofed. But he likes having his journals closer to hand than that. So they’re currently stored in the captain’s cabin on the _Amphitrite—_ the _Rouge_ is too public—just in case he wants to take a walk down memory lane.

A finger traces the shelf of well worn oil cloth wrappings, which grow more cracked the further back he goes, the only indication of their respective ‘dates’. The first captain he’d served under, a British man named Winthrop, had taken Duke’s continuing education very seriously and had bought him his first journal; Duke had kept the habit over the years.

Today it would actually come in handy. “Sweden, Sweden, Sweden,” he mutters to himself as he tries to remember the various years he’d stopped in there. He recalls that it had happened at least once, right after the Napoleonic war, but had there been a time before then too? Definitely in ‘85, when he’d wanted to show off Europe to Evie for their honeymoon.

He pulls out those two journals, plus one or two other possibilities, and takes them to his desk. Unwrapping the oldest he opens the actual leather bound journal within and begins to browse, it takes some time—even if it’s his own handwriting spellings had still been sort of a _suggestion_ back then and his brain needs to stop and figure words out from time to time—but he gets through the first without mention of what he’s looking for and moves onto the second.

There is a modicum of guilt involved with doing this, definitely at being caught then that he tried to go ‘behind’ Audrey’s back. He hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t want to get her hopes up with this ‘Guardian’ thing, but he also concedes that part of the reason he hadn’t wanted to tell her was because he was willing to do _anything_ to make sure she survived, and was happy; adding something new to her plate would only give her more to wonder and worry about.

It’s not exactly fair to her, Audrey’s definitely the sort of woman who wants the whole truth and nothing but the truth—he snorts—but that doesn’t stop his own instincts. A word on the page catches his eye and he stops his train of thought to focus, now that he sees it he knows it’s exactly what he’s looking for—ârsgång—but this is only a mention; nothing concrete. So more digging.

Part of the problem is is that Audrey _cares_ , sometimes too much Duke worries, more than her predecessors even. Lucy’s care had been slightly distant, abstract—during their first meeting she’d told him she was a social worker—part of her slightly removed from everything going on in Haven. Sarah, well, Sarah’s care had been no-nonsense, she did what she pleased and _how_ she pleased; and if you didn’t like it well you could go screw yourself—if put it far more polite words—and at least the way she’d gone about it was so subtle that most people had gone with it unknowingly. As for Maggie, Duke tears his gaze away from his journal to stare out the porthole to the open ocean, Maggie’s care had been sly and underhanded; she had cared, but in her line of work caring was a weakness, so she’d had to help people without giving anything away.

Audrey didn’t seem to have any of those barriers, it made him love her more but it also made him want to tear his hair out when she’d jump headfirst into something without worrying about her own safety.

Nathan wasn’t much help in the ‘holding back’ department either, considering he thought she’d hung the sun, moon, _and_ stars, just as willing to jump in after her. Duke’s certain they’re the absolute _worst_ people to pine after.

And yet he does, and more often than not he follows them right over the edge.

Selfless damn heroes the both of them.

He forces himself to look back at his journal, to keep looking.

It’s strange in a way to read his history, to see himself grow from cabin boy to sailor to captain, to read again how honored and eager he’d been to helm his own ship—even if he didn’t _own_ it—to be in control like that. Duke’s never wanted to lead Haven, that’d been the reason, even though he’d been only eight, he’d signed on to a ship’s crew. He doesn’t want _that_ power, the sort that had seemed to consume his grandfather and father both; he’s willing to call Haven his, his home, his territory, but only that far.

Captaining a ship, however, had been exactly enough. In a way it had felt what he thought having a pack would. Trust in each other, that your fellows would do their jobs so that you could focus on yours, and even though there was a hierarchy there had still been camaraderie, and sometimes even friendship.

Ah, there it is. Blinking he realizes the light’s started to go, reaching over he turns on the electric lantern on the corner of the desk. Then settles in to read.

Half an hour later he leans back in his seat, processing. In principle it should be a simple enough thing for her to do. But he also knows that just because it’s simple didn’t mean it would be easy, or that it wouldn’t go horribly wrong; it just meant there was at least less to fuck up.

Leaving that journal out he puts away the ones he’s already paged through. Putting a bookmark—a ticket from Nathan from ‘74—in the right spot he closes that journal and stacks it with the other ones he still wants to look through. Standing he stretches, his body complaining slightly; he ticks back and realizes it’s been a week since he seriously did his yoga and swears to get up early tomorrow and change that. Making sure he has a good grip on them he leaves the captain’s cabin and makes his way, slowly, to the _Rouge_.

He makes himself a few sandwiches, then settles back into researching. He wants to get this right, for Audrey’s sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The flowers everyone's wearing are primrose, St. John's Wart, and marigolds; all good at warding against fairies. (Duke's cheating a little, and not using the [European marigold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendula), instead it's [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagetes_patula).)
> 
> And Dwight! And Lizzie!
> 
> You can google ârsgång if you'd like, but isn't it more fun to wait and see?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Årsgång is pronounced 'orshgong' BTW.

Audrey paces her small hotel room, she _was_ supposed to be moving into the apartment above the Gull today, but now she finds herself focused on something completely different.

 _“You’ll disappear in October,”_ over and over Nathan’s voice repeats in her head, during the week she’d been able to ignore it thanks to work, but it’s her day off—barring any major problems—and it’s all she can think about.

Nathan had told her all he knew about it, which granted wasn’t much, but even just the idea of it leaves her mind in a tangle. She wants to talk to someone, but doesn’t know who. Nathan’s too involved, and Duke hasn’t been answering her calls—she’s not sure if it’s because he’s avoiding her or if he’s working on something, she thinks the latter considering he apparently hasn’t been at the Gull since Monday. Vince and Dave would probably be sympathetic ears, but something about Vince niggles at her; she finds she’s willing to go to him for help on cases, but anything else just feels...wrong.

She stops her pacing and gives a huff, the answer obvious now that she thinks about it. Picking up her phone she pulls up her call history. A few seconds later she’s listening to her phone trying to connect and hopes this works.

“Hello? Claire Callahan speaking.”

A brief smile flickers across Audrey’s mouth. “Hey Claire, it’s me Audrey. Look I was wondering if we could talk if you’re not too busy.” Calling out of the blue like this probably isn’t the best of ideas.

Over the line she hears the rustle of paper. “Well you’re in luck, I’ve got some open time. Just come right in.”

For a brief moment Audrey misses phone cords, the familiar and somewhat soothing action of winding it around her fingers. “Could we meet somewhere else? I’d, I’d like to be outside I think.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Claire replies after a beat of silence. “I’m feeling a bit peckish, meet me at Rosemary’s? Five minutes or so?”

“Ye, yeah,” Audrey replies. “I’ll buy.”

“Perfect, see you then.” Claire hangs up.

Audrey pockets her phone, grabs her keys, and heads out.

She beats Claire to Rosemary’s, but only by a few seconds. They get in line by silent agreement and soon place their orders—raspberry scone and mocha for Claire, a giant chocolate chip cookie and chai for Audrey.

The bakery itself is full of Havenites, talking and eating and otherwise living their lives. None of them concerned with October or vanishing, or wondering who they are.

A few minutes later they’ve staked out a bench in the park and Audrey feels her body at least relax slightly in the late spring sun.

“Alright, so what do you want to talk about?” Claire asks as she breaks off a chunk of her scone.

With a small sigh Audrey stares out across the park to the ocean beyond it. “What if someone told you something that radically changed the way you see things?”

Claire makes a thoughtful sound, and Audrey’s more than willing to wait for her answer, taking a sip of her chai, then a large bite of her cookie. She doesn’t have to wait long at least. “It would definitely mess with me. What was it you were told?” Despite her professional tone there is a hint of curiosity in Claire’s voice.

“Nathan told me that at the end of October I’ll vanish, without a trace. Just like all the others before me.”

“Wait, seriously?” Claire sounds almost incredulous. “Vanish?”

Audrey feels a certain measure of relief that she’s not the only one caught off guard by that fact. “Yeah. Do you remember anything from around that time with Lucy?” Claire might have only been a kid, but it’s a different view than Duke and Nathan’s at least.

Claire frowns, clearly thinking as she drinks. “I remember that James died, and that was sad. But I was also seven years old and eagerly awaiting Halloween so I could blow my classmate’s minds with my awesome princess Leia costume.” Audrey finds herself smiling. “I think I remember maybe overhearing some adults talking about how she’d left because of the murder?” She gives a shrug. “Sorry that’s not more useful. But October, Jesus. What’s supposed to happen to you?”

Setting down her chai Audrey rips off a chunk of cookie and gestures with it. “I have no fucking idea. For all I know I’ll have a reason to leave in October.” She shrugs. “But from the way Nathan was describing it to me it’ll happen whether I want it to or not.”

Silence falls between them for a few minutes, both in their own thoughts. At least until Claire sighs. “Okay, so I’m technically breaking a lot of rules by telling you this, but Nathan’s talked about this before in our sessions, not that he’s mentioned a month or anything like that. But he’s never used the word ‘vanished’, when he was talking about it then it was always ‘going’.”

Her words make Audrey frown, was Nathan trying to scare her by changing his language? “Not exactly helping me here doc,” at least it comes out more dry than panicked.

“Sorry,” Claire gives a brief frown. “On the other hand the way he talks about it he always feels hopeless because he doesn’t think he can do anything to keep you from going. Like it’s inevitable.”

Which hardly helps at all. “I think I’m finally starting to crack this whole mystery, only to find that I’ve barely scratched the surface.” A frustrated sigh escapes her. “Why’s it so damn impossible to get answers in this town.”

“Because we’re secretive, insular, and suspicious?”

Audrey laughs, then finds that she can’t quite _stop_ laughing, by the end her laughter’s more relieved than amused. “Thanks, I think.”

“I’m here til Tuesday, don’t forget to tip your waiter.” Claire grins.

A huff of laughter leaves Audrey, nearly messing up her attempt to take a drink. But after she manages that she gives Claire a smile of her own. “Thanks for this, I really just needed to get that off my chest. It’s been a...rocky few days.”

“It’s not a problem, I’m more than happy to play impartial ear anytime you want to talk.”  She finishes off her scone. “And hey, if you’ve got anything else you want to talk about I’ve still got about an hour til my next session…”

Claire’s fishing is so blatant that Audrey can’t help but be charmed by it, she rolls her eyes. “Okay, so what’s with the whole May Day thing? Because that was weird. And the fairies...weren’t at all what I expected.” For one thing they hadn’t been tiny at all; in fact the Queen had been nearly as tall as Duke and Nathan.

“No way,” Claire’s eyes widened. “You’ve been to a threatening? Spill,” she scoots a little closer. “I’ve never gotten anyone to actually _talk_ about it.”

“Fine, but I demand answers in return. None of the secretive, insular, suspicion bullshit.” Audrey says it with a smile.

Claire places a hand on her chest. “I swear on my non-existent girl scout badges.”

Fighting back laughter, Audrey takes a bite of her cookie. “Okay, so everyone but Duke and Nathan were armed…”

-

It feels like it’s going to be a slow day, Nathan’s certainly experienced enough of them that he’s gotten good at guessing. The question is of course whether it will be a _good_ slow day or not.

Regardless it looks like it might be a boring day for Audrey, with paperwork already done—he wonder if he should caution her to write slower against such an inevitability—she’s doodling on a piece of paper, clearly trying to not get caught up in the internet again.

As he works on his own paperwork there’s a niggling urge to go over and kiss her, that’d be plenty distracting for the both of them. He resists it though, it’s true over the past few days she’s touched him more, brief grazing things, but she hasn’t gone beyond that and he doesn’t want to push his luck; he’ll take what he can get just like he always does. Which doesn’t stop him wanting.

Distraction however does come, in the form of Duke bursting into the office with bags of food. “I’ve somehow got half an hour of nothing,” Nathan’s not sure if that’s panic or relief in Duke’s voice. “You should be completely honored I’m spending it with you.”

Parker laughs while Nathan just rolls his eyes. “Is some of that for us, or are you going to taunt us with food?” He asks dryly.

His question earns him an eyeroll in response as Duke puts down a bag in front of Parker. “I’m genuinely hurt Nathan, when have I ever been that cruel?”

Nathan finds he doesn’t care to answer, because the bag Duke sets in front of him has _pancakes_ in it and Nathan’s more than willing to ignore everything in favor of eating them.

Duke collapses onto the couch, pulling out a sandwich from his remaining bag and biting into it with relish. “Oh man,” he groans. “It feels so good to get off my feet.”

“Why do you do so much if it keeps you this busy?” Parker asks, dipping a fry into ketchup. “I would have thought you’d be as far away as possible from event planning as possible.” Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Parker, while knowledgeable, still doesn’t really know the minutiae of Haven’s history.

“You’d think that,” Duke agrees after swallowing. “And every year I swear I will. Then I somehow get pulled into it all over again against my will. Mary wants me to teach dance classes because no one seems to remember how to do something as simple as a waltz. There’s the menu at the Gull to plan. Hernando pestering me up and down to try his ciders because I’m apparently the only person in Haven with a sophisticated enough palate to appreciate them. And the Teagues, and on and on.” He nearly tears his sandwich apart with his next bite. “I swear, next year I’m taking the _Rouge_ up to Canada and not coming back until like the end of June.”

“Just in time to make a killing on fireworks?” Nathan finds himself asking wryly.

“Please,” Duke snorts. “I’m pretty sure the citizens of Haven would get into _less_ trouble with illegal fireworks than without.” He...might have a point.

Parker’s been watching them silently as she eats, yet taking everything in with an interested air. Finally though she finishes poking around for stray bits of fries and leans back in her chair with a satisfied sort of air. “So Duke, did you find out what you wanted about whatever you thought might help me?”

Duke sits upright and painstakingly wraps his leftover sandwich back up. “I think so yeah.” Nathan doesn’t argue when Duke gets up and closes and locks the door. Instead of returning to the couch he takes the chair from in front of Nathan’s desk and moves it so it’s mostly in between him and Parker.

“Alright, so I first found out about this when I was a teenager on an tea merchant heading for Sweden, which was a while ago, so it did take me a while to compile everything.”

“Wait,” Parker interrupts. “Before we get anymore into this how long ago is ‘a while ago’ to you?” She gestures at Nathan. “I mean I know how old he is.” _Sort of_ , Nathan amends in his own mind; but it’s also the truth because he considers this life to be wholly separate from his previous ones. “But I still have no idea about you.”

A hint of a smile plays on Duke’s lips. “A while ago in this case is about two hundred years, give or take.”

“Jesus Christ,” Parker’s eyes widen.

The hint turns into a full smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he sketches a sort of mock bow. “And if I’m lucky I’ll make it to the ripe old age of five hundred before I finally croak.” He makes a face, which to Nathan suggests he thinks that outcome highly unlikely; Nathan’s pretty sure he agrees.

There’s a moment of silence before Parker finally speaks again. “Anyone else in this town unspeakably ancient that I should know about? Or is it just you two?” He’s not sure if she’s actually cranky about it or if she’s just aping it.

Still he and Duke share an amused glance. “No one that I know of,” Nathan finally answers.

“Just us two old fogies,” Duke says in an attempt to be funny. Nathan rolls his eyes. “But alright, now that that’s out of the way can I continue?”

Now Parker’s the one rolling her eyes. “Sure, but I’m not sure I’ll actually _remember_ it, what with my mind being stuck on you as ancient.”

Duke huffs, but there’s an amused smile on his face; one that Nathan knows well. “Well, early eighteen hundreds, Sweden, a northern port called Luleå to be exact. The captain decided to give us some shore leave, though few took it, what with it being so damned cold out. Anyways,” he waves a hand as if to get himself back on track. “That’s where I first heard about this ritual. It’s called an ârsgång…”

“Gesundheit,” Parker says, making Nathan snigger.

“Yes,” Duff huffs again. “Ârsgång, or basically translated ‘Year Walk’ is a ritual one performs at certain times of the year in order to gain visions of the future. The next possible date for us would be Midsummer,” Nathan thinks it might already be too much of a wait.

Parker stands up and walks around her desk, despite her earlier crack about not remembering anything she seems to be keeping up just fine. “So what does one need for an oshgang?”

“Ârsgång,” Duke corrects. “And you don’t really _need_ anything. But there are things you have to do. You start on midnight the day of and for the twenty four hours before that you don’t eat food or have any sort of human interaction. Especially not speaking, not until after you’ve finished at least.”

“You?” Nathan finds himself asking, not exactly like the sound if it. If she’s going to do this he wants to be there for her, alongside her.

Duke gives him a look. “Yes Nathan, her. I’m in no real hurry to find out my future, and you can’t do it.”

Nathan’s pretty sure he’s scowling, something like anger rising up in him. “What do you mean?”

Flickers of silver glimmer in Duke’s eyes. “I mean that you can’t do it because it involves a church.”

Anger leaves him in a rush, not exactly happy that Duke’s right. “Why a church?”

“Because that’s how the ritual goes as far as I know. You end it at a church with a Grim, who shows you the future after you tell it what you want.” Duke shrugs. “Don’t go taking it out on me.”

“Why can’t you step onto a church Nathan?” Parker’s frowning.

Nathan shoves half a pancake into his mouth to buy some time. He’s been expecting that question for a while, but that doesn’t mean he’s looking forward to _answering_ it. But, honesty; he can at least try to do it. “The proper term is Iyr, or at least that’s the _oldest_ human term.” There is a better term in Angelic, but that language is barred from Nathan now. “But the one you’d be able to understand best is fallen angel.”

He wouldn’t say it gets quiet enough to hear a pin drop, because there’s still the ambient noise from outside the office leaking in, but it’s close enough.

Parker stares at him wide eyed, clearly trying to fit this new piece in. “So wait, were you lying to me before, about being an incorporeal being?” She sounds hurt and if he could he’d probably be aching that he caused that hurt.

“No. Angels, angels don’t have physical bodies Parker. We can create temporary ones, and become trapped in them,” he waves a hand in emphasis. “But we are beings of spirit.”

She nods, falling silent again, her expression thoughtful. “Okay,” she finally says. “So I’m doing this on my own. Two things, what’s a Grim? And is there anything else important I need to know?” She’s picked up her pencil again and started taking notes on her earlier doodle paper.

“A Grim’s a goat or dog buried in the church when it’s being built to protect it.” Duke finally rejoins the conversation, although his expression is just as thoughtful as Parker’s; Nathan wonders if he should worry about that.

Then again he’s got a...worry slightly more pressing. “It’s the Good Shepherd isn’t it?” He at least manages to say it without gritting his teeth.

Parker makes a face, and Duke gives a grave nod. “Yep. It’s the only one old enough to have actually _have_ a Grim.” Of course it is, just his luck.

“Though it’s not like you need to have any interaction with Driscoll, you just need the church itself. But yeah, you need to get from your apartment to the church before the sun rises. As simple as that. Walk around it three times counter clockwise and tell the Grim what you want. And you’re done.” He makes a gesture reminiscent of a magician and Nathan rolls his eyes.

“Well that seems disturbingly simple.” Parker finishes her notes and takes another bite of her own sandwich.

“Doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Nathan points out. It’s not hard to think of things that could possibly go wrong, most of what what happens to her if she doesn’t make it to the Good Shepherd before sunrise.

She exhales noisily after swallowing. “I know. Haven’s pretty much the textbook example for that in my mind. Still, there are probably less pleasant ways to divine the future. Don’t have to kill anything at least.”

“No entrails,” Duke points out with a bit of a grin. “That’s always a plus.”

“Are you trying to put me off your food,” Parker snipes back, her nose scrunching in disgust.

Just like last month Nathan finds that their banter is something of a comfort, something he doesn’t have to involve himself with unless he wants to. He finishes off his pancakes and leans back in his chair; he thinks he might be smiling, but he’s not exactly about to ask either to check.

It’s probably not a good idea to pin most of his hopes on this ârsgång, but he finds himself doing it anyways. At the very least it’s better than nothing at all.

-

With more care than necessary Duke sets the table in the dining room. In a few days tourists and Havenites alike will pass through the front door, stare into the rooms, read the placards he sets up, will vaguely learn what living in Colonial America was like; just like they do every year.

But for now it’s only him, and the house of his childhood. Full of vague memories and sense of unhappiness.

The faded family portraits—even with him keeping the house closed up for most of the year hasn’t protected them from time, and he’s not all that inclined to get them restored—hangs from the wall, eyes staring down at him, seemingly in judgement. He hadn’t liked them even as a child, not that he liked much in this house—the mementos he kept here aside.

Still he polishes the gold flatware with care before setting each in their proper place.

He remembers hiding atop the china hutch, to get away from his father, and watching the servants set for dinner. The even pattern of their voices as they chatted and gossiped, speaking of a Haven he hardly knew about, but thought must be better than his own life.

Footsteps echo down the hall, drawing him from his thoughts. Citrus-crisp hits his nose and he finds himself relaxing. Only Audrey then. He finds himself wondering why she came.

“Duke?” She calls out about a minute later, she must have poked into a room and gotten distracted, his lips twitch.

He sets down the last fork and puts his polishing rag on his shoulder. “Back here Audrey,” he answers. Pulling out a chair he sits down, the solid oak still holding after all these centuries.

She comes into view a few moments later, her appearance suggests she either just got off work, or was headed there; he’s guessing the former however. Her eyes seem to take in the whole of the dining room before noticing him and it makes him smile. “You want the tour?” Granted on Founders Day there’s no formal tour—Duke isn’t all that inclined—but he thinks he’d enjoy showing the house to Audrey, at least a little bit.

“It’s impressive.” She admits as she joins him at the table. “You grew up here?”  She picks up a gold spoon and fiddles with it.

“Yeah,” he agrees, slouching slightly in his chair, deciding not to elaborate.

Audrey doesn’t seem interested in pressing either, which works out fine for him. Although he watches her as she continues to look around, clearly still intrigued by the history around her. He lets her take it in silence, more than happy at the moment to just be with her.

“Is that you?” She’s pointed at the family portrait, specifically at Wade, which is amusing.

Reaching out he takes her hand to point it at the two year old on his mother’s lap—the painter had been generous enough to at least attempt to make her look healthy instead of at death’s door—“that’s me,” he corrects. He’s not much to look at really, but to be fair he’s only _two_ ; closer to the china hutch was a later cameo of him done only a few months before his father died.

Audrey huffs in amusement, extracting her hand from his and getting up to get a closer look at it. “You have a brother then? You don’t talk about him.”

“Nope,” Duke agrees easily. “The only real memories I’ve got of him are from dad’s funeral, and well I scarpered before anyone could even think to make him my guardian; which probably relieved him, he didn’t like Haven, or what he is, all that much.”

Audrey makes a thoughtful noise, but he’s not sure if she actually hears them. After she finishes looking at the painting itself her gaze falls to the bottom of the frame with its plaque. Duke starts counting, waiting for the predicted question.

“Who the hell’s Evander?” There it is.

“I am.” When she gives him an incredulous look he sketches a brief sitting bow. “Evander Grosvenor Crocker at your service, born in the year of our Lord 1794 to Simon and Rebecca Crocker.”

Sputtering laughter isn’t quite what he expected, but it’s better than some options. “I don’t know if that’s better or worse than ‘Duke’.” She says a few moments later. “How’d you get that?”

“My first stint as a cabin boy.” He holds up his hands and wiggles his fingers. “I’d never done a hard day’s work in my life, so the other sailors would joke about it, called me ‘his lordship Duke Crocker’, which then just became Duke.” He shrugs, “I just liked it enough to keep it.”

“Huh,” she gives him a curious look, it doesn’t exactly make him feel _defensive_ , but it does make him feel like she’s seeing him in a new light. “So Ev…” Her eyes glitter, amusement coming off her in waves.

“No,” he responds flatly, fighting to keep a smile from his face. “No ‘Ev’ or ‘Van’ or any of that nonsense. I answer to one ridiculous name and that’s Duke.” Now he is smiling.

She laughs again, and it’s a good sound; one he’d like to hear more often than sighs of frustration or disappointment. He lets a brief silence fall between them before he speaks again. “So are you ready for Founders Day? Got your costume picked out?” He’s pretty sure she doesn’t, she probably didn’t even know about it; but he might as well ask.

“Costume?” She actually sounds vaguely panicked. “Why would I need a costume?”

“It’s tradition,” he shrugs. “Everyone in town dresses up from whatever historical period they want. Gets us into the spirit of our history.” Helps with tourism too. It also adds a bit of levity to the town, because it’s always amusing to see police officers in full costume arresting people; or at least it is for Duke.

She gives a little frown. “No I don’t, and really not much of a costume person.” There’s a story behind that he’s sure, but now’s not the time to ask.

But it’s fair, even if he reserves the right to tease her about it on the day. “Well if you change your mind I’ve got some dresses upstairs you’re more than welcome to rifle through.” He’s not sure if Audrey’s a flapper sort of girl actually, but it would be an interesting thing to see at least.

“Something you’re not telling us Duke?” Audrey’s tone is as arch as her smile.

“Lots,” he admits—so much really—with an easy smile. “But I’m not a transvestite or anything like that, if that’s what you’re wondering.” His grin turns soft. “They’re just memories.” Possibly poorly kept ones—he’s made sure they’re wrapped and free of mothballs and the like, but he hasn’t tried to preserve them more than that—but he loves them all the same.

Her expression turns strange, and her scent goes vague. “If I asked would you tell me?”

Clever lady, asking it like that. “Some of them are Maggie’s,” it does feel a little strange saying that; but he’s said stranger. “I think one or two might be my wife’s.” He’d actually have to go and look, he’s not even sure they’d be fit to wear actually.

“Wife?” Audrey sounds almost shocked.

He rolls his eyes. “It was a _very_ long time ago, mid-late 1800s. Evidence Ryan Knight,” he smiles. “Wicked smart and just as crooked as me, but she usually dealt with people, not objects.” He’d made a few exceptions over the years, especially before and after the Civil War, but he’s kept to that. “Her father married us, probably the only place in Mississippi we _could_ have gotten married.”

Audrey looks like she’s about to say something but just shakes her head instead. There’s a few moments of silence, then: “she sounds like quite the woman.”

“She was at that.” He lets a fond smile cross his face. “And I mourned her when she passed,” just like most of the woman, and few men, he’s loved. The only one who’d lived is Nathan—and in Duke’s mind that didn’t really count, just like Audrey didn’t.

Again Audrey doesn’t say anything but she also surprises him by placing her hand on top of his and squeezing lightly. He turns his own hand over and squeezes back. Letting himself enjoy the simple comfort of touch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after doing some research I discovered 'Duke' wasn't a proper name until about the late 1800s, so Duke being born in colonial America wouldn't have had that as a name...hence Evander Grosvenor (which would basically translate to 'the great hunter-warrior with a bow').
> 
> As for the new last name for Evie...I knew I was going to have her and Duke's marriage in the 'distant' past, and discovering [Newton Knight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_Knight) gave me the perfect little slot of time to put her in. (if you're interested in more there's a movie coming out on June 24 about it too [Free State of Jones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EMkxEKKSQI).) As a brief story aside, it was Evie's death that got Duke to return to Haven.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are all very much welcome for the metal images herein, also this was a lot of fun to write.

Audrey sits outside Black House enjoying the May sun and watching the slew of costumes going past as Havenites get into the spirit of Founders Day. There’s something almost pleasing about it, even if she’s not personally taking part; seeing old and young—there’s apparently no school today—celebrating their town.

Jaunty whistling somehow catches her ear and she turns her head slightly to see Duke, and by the time he reaches her she can’t hold back her laughter anymore. “What are you wearing?” She somehow manages to get out.

It’s a pale green suit, except it’s so ill-fitting as to be almost comical, a jacket that reaches his knees—with broad shoulder pads—and pants that remind her of the eighties, a thin chain peeps out of the bottom of the jacket, only to vanish back into it again on it’s way up; he’s even wearing a matching fedora. It’s...well it’s ridiculous.

He strikes a bit of a pose, which makes her laugh even harder. “Awww don’t tell me a dish like you’s never seen a zoot suit before?” He waggles his eyebrows and she nearly knocks over her coffee.

“Stop,” she gasps out, wiping tears from her eyes and trying to ease the laughing cramps in her stomach. Finally she feels like a normal human being. She takes a few more deep breaths just to be sure, biting her lips for a moment when she looks at Duke again. “You look…”

“Handsome? Dashing? Roguishly charming?” If Duke keeps this up she’s going to be a laughing mess again.

She takes a sip of her coffee and shakes her head. “Absurd, you look absurd.” When she’d first heard about the costume thing she would have expected to see Duke in something more...nautical.

His hand flies to his chest. “Ouch, Audrey Parker, taking no prisoners today I see?” He leans casually against the fencing splitting them apart and tips his hat up slightly so he can look up at her better. “You didn’t even dress up.” There’s a slight pout to his voice, although he already knew full well that she wouldn’t be.

“Of course I did,” she gives a haughty sniff. “I’m Modern.”

Duke gives a sage nod. “Bold choice there Parker, bucking the trend.” He grins. “So have you seen Nathan yet?” She can’t tell if he’s amused or actually curious.

“No, he said he was running late. And stop deflecting,” she mimes giving him a light kick. “I would have thought you’d go more historical than this.” Granted she’s not exactly clear as the ‘when’ of zoot suits, but she knows it’s more modern than a lot of the clothing she’s seen today.

“Well unfortunately for you the moths have gotten to a lot of my older clothing.” His mock-tragic expression suggests that he’s lying. “And anyways I wouldn’t want to show Nathan up.”

She arches an eyebrow and braves taking a sip of coffee, hoping Duke doesn’t do anything more outlandish. “Show him up? Do I even want to know?” It makes her wonder what _Nathan’s_ dressed up as, which is probably Duke’s whole point.

“Oh you know us, eternally fighting. Pretty sure it’s a crime if we actually wear the same thing.”

A derisive snort escapes her. “You know the both of you keep saying that, but Nathan’s a hell of a lot nicer to you than he is to other people he hates,” although she’s not sure ‘hate’ is the right word in any case—she’s seen him be nastily polite to the Rev however and that’s certainly harsher than he’s ever been with Duke. But even then it’s definitely an old habit; and it’s not like she’s going to try and break him of it, the Rev gives her the creeps. “I mean that thing after Ezra and Tobias might really only qualify as roughhousing.” To her at least.

Her words make Duke look, not oddly hopeful, but something close to it; longing perhaps? “Not sure if I should thank you for that or not.” Right, he _likes_ Nathan while Nathan seems set on her; not that she minds, she likes Nathan too, and Duke if she’s honest with herself now. But Audrey is _excellent_ at ignoring things like that, and so puts it aside—it’s probably something she should talk to Claire about ‘how did I manage to start falling for two men, and how does it work out if one thinks they’ve had a previous relationship with me?’.

Still, she doesn’t let herself feel bad. “I’m not sorry,” she tells him firmly.

“Not sorry about what?” Nathan asks from behind her, she nearly knocks over her coffee in surprise—he definitely gets her heart racing.

She turns around in her seat to tell him off but draws up short.

Nathan, well...Nathan looks like he stepped right out of a Jane Austen movie and...wow. Rich blue jacket over a crisp white shirt and cravat, pale yellow pants—or whatever they were—that clung tightly to his legs before they ended up tucked into polished black boots. “Wow,” it slips out before she can stop herself. “You clean up nice Wournos.”

He blushes, a sight she’s not sure she’ll ever tire of. “It’s what I always wear,” she’s not sure if that’s protest or an explanation. Still, she’ll let him have it.

“I can’t wait to see you arrest someone,” Audrey admits, because it’s damn well going to be a sight; Duke sniggers. “But you do look really good,” she wants him to know she actually means it and isn’t just teasing him.

“Thanks.” He looks at Duke in askance. “We usually don’t arrest people today, just give out warnings. But I might make an exception.”

Duke holds up his hands. “What? I’m just a normal, law abiding citizen. Like everyone else.”

Nathan rolls his eyes. “I’d pay to see that.”

“Really?” Duke looks pleased. “Cause I can totally swing it.”

It gets Nathan to laugh, which Audrey appreciates. “Maybe later,” she tells Duke. “Go get coffee, then you and I need to get to work.” She doubts the Chief will care if they’re late today, but still. There’s also some curiosity over what the rest of the force’ll look like.

“You two have fun with that,” Duke pushes off from the railing. “I’ve got my own things to do.” He saunters off and Audrey lets herself watch him go.

She only tears herself away when she hears Nathan walking off himself, this time she only lets herself have a peak, his ass is definitely worth it. But when he disappears into the shop she pulls her attention back to the street.

Across the street she sees Claire—in full dark Victorian get up that can’t be comfortable in this heat— and her girlfriend Kat—done up like some golden age film star, the gold dress looking beautiful against her dark skin—and waves at them. They wave back, “I like your costume,” Claire half shouts.

Grinning back she salutes them with her coffee. They wander off, and just in time because Nathan returns, steaming coffee in hand. “Ready to go?”

“Yep,” grabbing her own cup she stands. “Sooo,” she can’t help the grin on her face. “Any other costume shockers I should brace myself for? Eighties hair metal? Someone in panniers? Both?” That would certainly be a sight; although she only half knows what panniers are.

Nathan laughs. “No not both, thank God.” It’s definitely...strange to hear him use turns of phrase like that now; does he actually mean it? Or is it just something he says because everyone else does? She might be curious for the answer, but she’s sure as hell not going to ask, unsure of how he’ll react. “We tend to stick with periods Haven existed in, so no Venetian decolletage, no suits of armor.” He shrugs.

She finds herself biting back a smile. “Alright, I’m trusting your Wuornos,” she teases.

His ears pinken.

-

At the very least Duke no longer feels like a chicken with it’s head cut off. The only things he has to really worry about now are unexpected problems at the Gull, and his traditional fiddling later in the afternoon— _another_ thing he always means to not do, just just like every year for the past decade Monty pulls him in. His fiddle and change of clothes are waiting patiently in the corner of his office.

With a small sigh he rubs the bridge of his nose, he definitely deserves a mental health day after this, hell maybe even a whole week—it doesn’t help that the full moon’s next week.

“Boss,” Nora’s voice pulls him from his musings, she’s usually evening shift, but with it being Founder’s Day it’s all hands on deck—paying them overtime doesn’t hurt either. “We’re out of bone marrow.” Of course they are.

“Even in the fridge?” There should be a few more boxes there.

She nods, “even triple checked.” Well shit. “Take the stew off the menu for now then, I’ll call James and see if he’s got any more.” Being the butcher he damn well should.

“Got it,” she vanishes back into the kitchen.

He sighs again and weighs the merits of just ducking out for the rest of day, head out on that little trip now. He won’t—he takes the running of the Gull about as seriously as running a ship—but it’s a fun idea to entertain. In lieu of that he picks up the phone and calls James. Who does have marrow huzzah, and promises to deliver it in an hour or so.

Crisis averted for now Duke begins plotting a getaway, wondering if he can get Audrey and Nathan to tag along.

-

Nathan gives a gusty exhale, it might be an easy day, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a _long_ one. It’s only lunch yet he’s ready to head home.

Parker finishes taken yet another statement for a stolen item—he has a sinking suspicion that the tourist really just _lost_ it—and sends the man on his way. She walks back over to him and nearly makes the same sigh he had moments ago. “Well I’ll never complain about paperwork again after today, I think my hand is starting to cramp.”

“May I?’ He reaches out to take her hand.

She flops her hand into his own and sensations fill him. He starts to massage her hand, which helps him focus against the flood of information. “Mmmm, that’s nice.”

A blush heats his cheeks and ears. “Good.” After a few moments he moves from her palm to her fingers. “So what do we want to do for lunch?” He finds there’s a smile playing around the edges of his lips.

“I don’t think I can even muster the energy to get to the Gull,” Parker groans. “Just get something from one of the stalls next door?”

He gives a huff of laughter. “I’m sure if we get there soon we can catch Duke’s fiddling.” Besides food it’s the one thing Duke does that’s ‘good’; and Nathan’s more than willing to admit he’s using it to bait Parker.

She blinks, caught off guard he thinks. “You’re telling me,” she says slowly. “That Duke plays the fiddle? And performs?”

He nods, “yep. Although to be fair he usually only plays on Founder’s Day.” Nathan has no real idea why though. Duke, from what he can tell, enjoys doing it.

Her hand slips out of his, and the world returns to normal. “Well, color me curious then.” She stands, then snorts and shakes her head.

“What?”

“Nothing really,” she shakes her head again “Just wondering if there’s anything Duke _can’t_ do. He cooks, dances, he plays the fiddle...I’m pretty sure you’ll tell me tomorrow that he can paint.”

Nathan laughs as he joins her. “Well when you’re as old as either of us you at least get _passable_ at things. But no, he can’t really paint.” He himself is passable, but there are certainly other arts he’s better at.

“If you say so,” she responds doubtfully as they head out.

Founder’s Park is bustling, townies and tourists alike milling about, shopping and eating and enjoying themselves. In the gazebo Monty and his band—all in their 1920s best—are setting up, the sounds of instruments tuning rising above the chatter. When they begin playing it draws a small crowd, who clear a space around the gazebo when some Havenites begin dancing. Duke isn’t there yet, but Nathan knows he’ll be along in good time.

So he and Parker get pasties from Rosemary’s stall, and meander over, stopping and chatting with people along the way.

The band’s finished a slip jig, and the dancers gratefully collapse on the ground, sending ripples of laughter through the crowd, when he spots Duke. He nudges Parker and points him out. When she sees him she snorts and rolls her eyes, “of course he was lying to me,” she says under her breath and Nathan decides not to ask.

“As I roved by the dockside one evening so fair,” Duke sings out, his clear tenor cutting through the general noise and drawing attention to him. And well, even Nathan’s willing to admit he looks quite the sight in his captain’s uniform, his navy waist-coat, with it’s gold facing and epaulets, and his white breeches look brand new, his hair’s pulled back in a ponytail, and even without a hat he looks every inch a seafaring captain from a bygone age.

“To view the salt waters, and take in the salt air.” As he sings he beings walking, a slow pace well suited to the mournful song. The crowd parts before him creating a small bubble of space.

“I heard an old fisherman singing a song, Oh take me away boys me time is not long.” He reaches the bottom step of the gazebo and as he climbs them Rich begins playing his own fiddle, low and soft.

Duke turns to face the crowd and continues. “Wrap me up in oilskin and blankets.”

“No more on the Docks I’ll be seen,” Monty’s own tenor voice joins in. “Just tell me old shipmates, I’m taking a trip mates. And I’ll see you some day on fiddler’s green.”

As they continue singing Nathan hears some sniffles and even next to him he can see Parker surreptitiously trying to dry her eyes. Then again for all he knows he’s getting teary eyed too, so maybe he shouldn’t be throwing stones.

“...With the wind in the riggin to sing me this song.” They finish. Applause soon fills the air.

It quiets when Duke settles his fiddle on his shoulder and raises the bow to the strings. He closes his eyes and beings to play. He starts out slow, but then it quickly begins to pick up, getting faster and faster. Whatever tears were left over from the previous song are quickly turned into smiles; no one here—except for the townies—may have heard the “Orange Blossom Special” before, but they know what it’s imitating. Nearby some kids start making train whistle noises from time to time, sending a few ripples of laughter around.

There are a few winces from the more sensitive of hearing at the brief squealing ‘brakes’ but everyone still applauds at the end.

Duke doesn’t acknowledge it, just launches into the next song, Monty and the others joining in.

It goes on like that for a good half an hour or so, song after song. There’s some laughter when they launch into “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and Parker rolls her eyes even though she’s smiling.

The set ends like it begins, Duke singing a sea shanty alone. When he finishes he finally gives a little bow and the crowd goes a little wild.

Monty and the others keep playing as Duke turns around and packs up his fiddle. As he descends the stairs a small knot of people gather around him. Nathan and Parker share a glance before making their way towards Duke, Nathan hoping the hangers on are gone by  the time they get there.

They’re not, but it doesn’t matter, Duke breaks off from his conversation and elbows his way through to them. “Hi,” there’s a breathless sort of grin on his face.

“You lied to me,” Parker says good naturedly, punching Duke in the arm. “You said the moths had gotten to all of your older clothes.”

“For all you know these are replicas,” Duke pouts.

“I’m pretty sure those are the exact same clothes that you wore in 1911 the first Founders Day you were back,” Nathan points out.

Duke bares his teeth and him, “wow Nathan. That hurts.”

Parker laughs.

“And yet despite that,” Duke continues. “I’m magnanimous enough to invite you to join me on my little trip tomorrow.”

Nathan narrows his eyes. “What are you smuggling this time?”

Duke turns his hurt expression on Parker, “so suspicious. It would be on the _Amphitrite_ , thanks for asking. Which you well know I don’t smuggle with anymore.”

He’s pretty sure he’s making a face, because Duke’s right and Nathan’s not really pleased to admit it; a memory from various sessions with Claire reminds that he shouldn’t be letting the past color the present.

“I’d love to go Duke, If I’m invited.” Parker rolls her eyes and nudges him. “I’m sure Nathan would too.”

It earns her a smile, and Nathan has to wonder how much Duke’s hurt expression had been an act. “Of course you’re invited Audrey, you would be a bright spot in any vacation.” She laughs and Nathan has to wonder if he should be jealous—and if he really has any right to be. “And I guess,” Duke gives a faux sigh, “If Nathan wants to drag his sanctimonious ass along too that would be fine.”

Nathan narrows his eyes. “I can’t tell if that’s passive aggressive, or you’re just being an asshole.”

“Okay,” Parker’s voice makes them both start. “Despite the outfits I’m pretty sure we don’t want a duel at dawn,” at least she sounds vaguely amused? “So why don’t we all just take a step back and think.” She’s right, Nathan sighs. “So Duke we’ll see you at seven?”

Duke nods. “Works for me. Now if you’ll excuse me I should be getting back to the Gull.” He turns and starts walking off.

“What was that about Wuornos?” Nathan’s pretty sure he’s wincing, because Parker doesn’t sound happy.

He blows out a breath and thinks he shrugs. “I…” Honestly he’s not sure why he lashed out that harshly. “The last time Duke invited me out we ran into the coast guard.” It’s not exactly an excuse, but it is an explanation. “I wasn’t exactly happy about it.” There had been an actual brawl when they’d gotten back to shore.

Sheriff Breitbarth hadn’t liked breaking up the fight, and Sarah hadn’t been happy either, even with her dislike of Duke. She’d kept her hands on him the entire time she’d been cleaning his wounds—more because she could than any real need to—and the iodine had definitely stung. He and Duke had been more wary of each other after that, at least for a decade or so.

“Sometimes I feel like I need a spreadsheet to keep track of everything,” Parker grouses.  She gives him a sidelong glance. “And I’m pretty sure you’ll be supplying beer tomorrow.”

He blinks. “What? Why?”

She huffs as they head back into the station. “Because I don’t think you’re physically able to verbally apologize to anyone but me,” she sounds exasperated.

“I apologize,” he protests weakly. Because she mostly has the right of it. It _is_ hard for him to apologize, all too easily falling back into belief that he’s better than everything else on the planet.

“Uh huh,” maybe it’s a good thing she doesn’t believe him. “Bring beer, the good stuff.” She calls out as she heads off to the bathroom.

Nathan sighs and goes to their office. He’s not sure whether to be annoyed or...something else. Either way he knows he’ll be doing as Parker says after his shift’s done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [an actal zoot suit if you're curious.](https://unframed.lacma.org/2016/01/26/search-authentic-zoot-suit) [Panniers](URL></a>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannier_\(clothing\)<a%20href=), and honestly I'm not sure if it has an 'official' fashion name for the style but ['Venetian decolletage'](http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/eyeappeal/images/unit4/img9.jpg). (also the only exception to the costume 'rule' on Founders day would be Dwight, who goes full viking)
> 
> So the first song Duke sings is [Fiddler's](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fji8ddg2lY) [Green](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMCrLkCUds)(the first like is an acapella version and the second has the instrumentation). [Orange Blossom Special](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUignXJJqDc).


	13. Chapter 13

The morning dawns bright and clear, with a good nor’easterly blowing. Excellent sailing weather if Duke says so himself.

He’d awoken with the dawn and started his work in getting the _Amphitrite_ ready for sailing. He’s got the food and drinks packed away in coolers—no electricity or ice boxes here—and makes sure the ropes and sails are in good working order. While the _Amphitrite_ is big enough that having a few crewmates would speed things along, Duke’s gotten good at the running of her by himself; it helps that with no goal in particular today he can let the wind do most of the work.

Once that’s done he hauls some lawn chairs over from the _Rouge_ and sets them up; but he decides against the fishing poles, Nathan’s words from yesterday stinging slightly.

Now all he can do really is wait. Practically throwing himself into one of the chairs he picks up his book and attempts to lose himself in the story. Yet he finds himself looking up at even the slightest of sounds.

The rumble of a familiar engine has him looking up once again, except this time in a sort of relief. Good, now that at least Nathan’s here perhaps Duke will stop wondering if this is such a good idea.

It takes about a minute for Nathan to get from his car to the slip, and Duke can hear Audrey’s car approaching as well. Duke finds himself blinking in surprise when he sees Nathan carrying two six packs of beer; Duke’s favorite even. Not that he’s going to complain mind you.

Unlike usual Nathan steps right aboard, then again Duke did invite him. He holds the beer out almost sheepishly—a word Duke’s never really associated with Nathan before. “These’re for you. I’m ah,” he seems intent to look everywhere but at Duke. “Yesterday, I…”

Duke blinks, taking aback by the fact that Nathan seems to be _apologizing_ or at least trying to. He’ll take it either way. Just like he takes the beer. “Thanks,” he says, giving Nathan a probably much welcome out. Some petty part of him wants to make a big deal of Nathan’s sort of apology, but it can stuff it; it’s pretty clear Nathan’s feeling awkward enough as it is, no reason to make it worse. He opens up the drinks cooler and starts shoving them in.

“Ahoy the boat,” Audrey calls out cheerfully from the slip. “I think I’ll need some help getting on again.” She looks perfectly suited for the summer’s day and Duke decides to be the gentleman and let Nathan help her aboard.

“Need to hoist the anchor,” he says easily when Nathan arches an eyebrow at his gesture to go ahead.

And he does, and he needs to man the wheel as well, at least until they’re out of the harbor. But that’s alright, this is all more than he’d thought he’d get anyways.

-

If Audrey thought the _Amphitrite_ rocked more than a modern boat at anchor then it definitely rocks more than she expects when it’s actually _moving_. Now at least she understands the whole ‘sea legs’ thing, because it’s going to take hers a little while to get used to the motions. But really, that’s a minor complaint at worst.

As she moves to one of the chairs, right now she’s going to play it safe, at least for the next hour or so, she notices a cardboard beer carrier shoved under a cooler and she finds herself biting back a smile.

Nathan takes one of the seats next to her and they keep a comfortable silence as they watch the water.

They’re well and truly out on open water when Duke finally joins them, opening one of the coolers strapped to the deck and pulling out a beer before taking the last chair, long legs sprawled almost carelessly before him. “This is nice.”

It’s easy to notice that they’re still moving, but certainly not as fast as before, and she trusts the Duke knows how to get them back when the day’s over, no matter how far out they drift. “Yeah,” she finds herself kicking off her flip-flops—why bother wearing anything else when she know her shoes would only get wet?—and enjoys the feeling of the warm wood under her toes. “So are there any plans on this outing?”

Nathan snorts, but she’s glad to note that Duke only rolls his eyes. “Not particularly, we might get lucky and see some whales or dolphins, but I really just wanted a day where I didn’t have to worry about anything more than eating and sitting on my ass.”

She laughs, “I’ll drink to that.” Deciding to risk it she stands and carefully makes her way towards the coolers. On the way there she nudges Nathan’s foot with her own. “You want anything?”

“Sure,” he responds, and it’s hard for her to miss the way he closes his eyes and enjoys the brief feel of the sun on his skin before she steps away. It makes her want to touch him for the rest of the day, but, she reminds herself, she wants to figure things out before she even _thinks_ about pursuing relationships—of _any_ sort. A possibly traitorous part of her mind points out that she might never get the answers she’s looking for, and by the time she realizes that it might be too late.

She’d rather not think on that any more than she has to.

Grabbing two beers she makes her way back with more confidence than before, stopping to hand one of them to Nathan before taking her seat. “Whales would be cool. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one before.” She’s seen dolphins at aquariums when she was a kid, though it might be fun to see them in the wild too.

“Well it’s certainly the right season for it,” Duke tells her. “Although I should point out that seeing _dolphins_ is what’s good luck on a ship.”

A sound she’s pretty sure is a snigger leaves Nathan, although she’s got no idea why what Duke said is funny.

Duke apparently does however, because he rolls his eyes. “Really? You’re knocking me for superstitions when we live in _Haven?_ ” Ah.

“Not knocking them, just don’t see you trotting out sailor beliefs all that often,” Nathan replies easily, taking a pull from his beer. She hopes they don’t try to fight, this whole situation’s too nice for that.

Luckily Duke only shrugs and drinks from his own beer.

She lets a few minutes of silence pass before she even thinks of speaking again. “So not that I’m perfectly happy to do this for a while,” nice warm sun, cold beer, why wouldn’t she like it? “But I hope you brought some cards or something for later.” She’d be afraid that anything more complicated would just fall right off the ship if it rocked too hard.

“Course I brought cards,” Duke replies easily, “although I’ve got to warn you, against Nathan and I you’re probably going to lose.”

He might be right, but still. She narrows her eyes. “Oh it’s on.”

“I’m staying out of this,” Nathan says unhelpfully. “But he’s also kind of right.”

She’s biting back annoyed laughter when she flings a leg out to kick Duke, then Nathan. “I see how it is,” she gives a haughty sniff. “More than willing to cheat against a poor old human.” So far she’s had no reasons to believe she’s not.

“I’m not touching that,” Duke responds, followed by a “nope” from Nathan.

 _Now_ she lets herself laugh, closing her eyes and tilting her head back to enjoy the sun on her face.

-

Even if he can’t feel the sea spray, or the sun, or the cold beer bottle on his hands Nathan finds he’s enjoying himself. He’s even pretty sure he managed a brief nap before Parker jostled him awake so they could play poker.

Which is just as enjoyable. Duke sets up a dubiously rickety card table and hands the deck over for Nathan to shuffle and deal. They play for bottle caps and whatever spare change they’ve got in their pockets; but that hardly matters.

They fall into good-natured banter and teasing as they play, taking a break a few hands in to eat.

By the time they get bored of poker Nathan’s winning, but only by a bottle cap. Still it’s enough that he feels smug about it when Parker finally calls it quits. “Alright, I give. Although now I want to see you two against Claire,” she’s grinning. “She seems pretty damn good.”

“Nope,” Duke laughs and shakes his head. “I’m not going up against her, at least not in poker.”

Nathan’s pretty sure he’s biting back a smile as he finishes off his fourth beer. “Definitely not even gonna think about playing poker against my therapist.” She’d wipe the floor with him he’s sure.

Parker sticks her tongue out a both of them before finishing off one of the sandwiches Duke had packed. “I see how it is,” but she’s smiling as she says it.

They pack away the cards and table and from somewhere below decks Duke procures a guitar, strumming it absently as they relax.

“Why didn’t you ever say you played?” Parker asks, opening another beer; he’s certain she’s nowhere near drunk, but she’s certainly buzzed.

Duke plays a vaguely familiar chord and shrugs. “It never came up. It’s not something I advertise exactly, and I wasn’t as if I learned to play because I wanted to. Knowing how to play and sing were sometimes more important skills than knot tying and navigation when you’re on a ship for years at a time.”

Parker gives a thoughtful frown, but doesn’t say anything more.

Not that Nathan minds, he likes silences like these, calm and peaceful with nothing at all like expectation in them. Setting his beer on the deck he stands and goes to the railing, gripping a nearby rope as he leans out some. He nearly asks Parker if she can come and touch him, so he can feel the rough hemp of the rope, the breeze and salt spray, but he doesn’t. At the moment it’s enough to imagine it all.

“Parker,” he calls out a few minutes later, something like amused happiness filling him. At her questioning sound he points out across the waves. “Whales.”

Her joyful smile as she rushes up beside him to see and Duke’s breathless laughter is a lot he discovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, but I hope the nice character fluff makes up for it, just wanted to give you a peaceful breather before we got into the next few meaty plot parts.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally here! The ârsgång. Also one of the biggest changes I made to the whole 'verse' of Haven (and if you somehow miss all of it this chapter, it'll be spelled out clearly next week). Love to know your thoughts on it!

Nathan finds himself resisting the urge to pace in the office. It’s the day before midsummer and part of him is itching that Parker isn’t there. He keeps expecting to turn around and see her, he’s grown so used to her being there.

But she won’t be here, not today.

He finds himself jumping slightly when his cell rings. But at least he manages to pull it out without dropping it. “Hello?” He probably should have check caller ID before answering.

“How do you feel about getting really, really grimy?” Duke asks.

“What?” Nathan  blinks. “Why are you asking me that?”

Duke snorts. “Because, I thought I might try and give you a better distraction than police work. How’s helping me clean the _Rouge_ sound?”

“When even was the last  time you cleaned her?” Nathan finds himself asking without really meaning too. On the one hand he’s never actually skipped out on work—not that he’d be missing much if the past hour’s any indication—on the other hard labor sounds like just the sort of distraction he needs.

“Probably around 2000,” Duke answers cheerily. “Hence ‘grimy’, so what do you say detective?”

Nathan finds it’s not really a choice at all. “Alright, be there in a few.” He hangs up before Duke can respond, just because he can. Picking up his coffee he heads out of the office and goes to Garland’s. “I’m heading out for the day.” If Garland pushes Nathan could probably claim vacation time, lord knows he hasn’t taken any since he was with Sarah.

“And where are you going?” Garland asks, not even looking up from whatever he’s writing.

“The _Rouge_ ,” Nathan sees no point in lying, he and Parker already impressed upon the whole station about how she isn’t to be bothered at all today if they can help it. “Duke wanted some help cleaning.”

Which does get Garland to look up, one eyebrow arched in question. “Alright,” he answers slowly, “keep an ear on the radio just in case though.” With Parker gone Nathan’s then next best thing.

“Yes sir,” he nods then leaves.

He stops by his house first changing out of his ‘work’ clothes into ones he doesn’t mind getting ripped and dirty. That done he finally makes his way to the docks.

The deck of the _Rouge_ and about half of Duke’s slip are littered with various odds and ends. Most look like, well, kind of junk if Nathan’s honest with himself—except for the electric bilge pump—but he’s sure that they’re all important to the running of the _Rouge_. “Duke?” He calls out as he ascends the ramp, stopping before he’s actually on the ship—he respects Duke that much at least.

For about a minute there’s no response, then Duke finally pokes his head out from the door to below decks. He looks a mess, which is promising; his hair’s been pulled back and he’s wearing a handkerchief over it, already stained with grease, matching the smears on his face and tank top. “Hey, good. Come on, I’m about halfway done with the engine, then we can move onto the bilges.” Duke eyes him critically for a moment, “might be a good idea to lose your shoes and socks.”

Having no reason not to Nathan steps onto the deck then slips off his shoes and socks. “There better not be stuff all over the ground.” He’s pretty sure Duke wouldn’t be that cruel—especially if he’s trying to help distract Nathan for Parker—but he could be wrong.

“Not at the moment,” Duke replies as his head vanishes again, forcing Nathan to follow, picking his way carefully. “Might happen later, but we’ll see.”

Nathan’ll take it.

Even with the extra lights Duke’s set up the engine room’s a bit on the dark side, and probably hot, even with the engine itself shut off—at least that’s what Nathan’s assuming. “So I’m not exactly taking the engine apart,” Duke begins. “But I’m definitely trying to get as many of the pieces off and cleaned as possible.”

“Is that why the deck and slip look like a junkyard?” The teasing note in his own voice catches him off guard for a moment.

Duke snorts. “No, that’s stuff to clean later, some of it’s shit I had stored in various corners for no real reason, probably take most of those to recycling or wherever else’ll accept them.”

Nathan nods. Duke tosses him a rag underhanded, which Nathan barely manages to catch.

“So don’t be afraid detective, get down with your dirty self.”

It gets a laugh out of Nathan, but he does dive in.

-

Nathan should be glad Duke remembered to call Beaty yesterday to arrange for the bilge to be pumped this morning. Otherwise the stench down here would be a lot worse. As it is, the bilge is about a disgusting a mess as ten years buildup would make.

The two of them don’t speak, except to ask for something to be passed and the like. But there is a camaraderie between them that Duke’s sure hasn’t ever been there before. It’s nice; certainly a lot more than Duke’s ever expected out of their strange back and forth.

He’s pretty sure it’s all because of Audrey—he finds himself sending up a brief prayer that all goes well for her tonight—not that he thinks that’s a bad thing. She’s easy to fall in love with, and Duke can see why Nathan’s pining after her—not that Duke’s much better mind you.

She probably knows about Nathan’s crush—the man might have a good poker face, but he’s still kind of shit in the hiding his emotions department—but she clearly hasn’t done anything to further the relationship and Duke has to find himself wondering why.

Because she found about Duke’s own crush? Gods he hopes not, because even with this newfound friendship Duke’s certain things aren’t going to go anywhere near that. And really Duke’s carried that torch long enough that he’s just damn happy to have _that_.

“Duke?” Nathan’s voice startles him.

“What? Sorry lost in my own thoughts.”

Nathan sort of rolls his eyes. “Can you hand me a scrapper?”

He does, making sure Nathan actually grabs it the right place instead of around the dull blade. Duke gets back to his own scraping. Thy should be done with the first round soon, which means they get to have some fresh air, food, and cold beer while they let the pumps flush out all the grim they’ve gotten so far.

Then they get to do it all over again.

There are a few more minutes of silence as they start to finish up. Then Nathan speaks again. “We’ll be waiting for her.”

“Huh?” Duke blinks, the words not quite making sense in his head.

“Parker,” Nathan says with a soft huff—dare Duke say affectionate? “We’ll be waiting for her when she comes out of the church. Or,” Duke is pretty damn sure that’s a blush. “At least I will, I don’t know about you.” He starts scraping a spot with nearly single minded intensity.

Huh. Duke finds himself smiling slightly as his focus returns to his own work. “Like hell I’m not going to be there.” She’s at the very least his _friend_ and he’s pretty sure she’ll want all the friendly face she can get after the ârsgång is done. “Although I hope you’re planning on at least bathing twice before we go get her.” Duke pinches his nose. “You kind of reek at the moment.” Of course he’s in the same boat.

For his jibe he gets a glop of... _something_ tossed at his shoulder. Which is probably the only reason doesn’t retaliate with a disgusting salvo of his own. Instead he finds himself laughing.

He almost stops when Nathan joins in, but finds he doesn’t want to; letting himself enjoy this one warm moment of camaraderie in the face of the cold unknown.

-

Audrey’s willing to admit that cutting herself off from human contact for a whole day is...unsettling for her. She’s used to talking with people, with helping them, but Duke had been insistent. No human contact for 24 hours; no food either.

Hunger gnaws on her belly as she watches the clock tick ever closer to midnight. Below her the sounds of the Gull have died down to silence, Duke closing slightly earlier than usual.

She knows that he and Nathan will be waiting for her when she’s finished—if she survives—and the thought fills her with affectionate warmth. Part of her is uncertain if what she’s feeling for them is really love, but it feels like it. Not that she has any real idea of what to do with that, yes she could tell them, but she’s not sure how to make it clear that she wants the _both_ , and not just one or the other.

An alarm she’d set goes off, telling her that she’s got five minutes until midnight. Despite a lingering apprehension she also feels, well, excited. Even if this is dangerous there’s the possibility of _answers_ and to her right now that’s worth it.

She dresses lightly, but grabs a warm coat—it might be summer but this is also the coast and it can get chilly.

The beating of her heart seems to pick up as she watches the second and minute hands on the clock tick closer and closer to twelve. _Ten_ , she mouths to herself as she walks to her front door, _nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one_.

Opening the door she steps out onto her porch, the nearly full moon is high in the sky, almost creating a sort of false day, if one that’s very washed out. Slowly she makes her way down the steps, and across the gravel drive—the rocks crackle under her feet—towards the road into town. Now, she has to get to the Good Shepherd church.

This late at night the town is fast asleep, and quiet, quiet enough that the sounds of the ocean seem to follow her as she walks, a constant susurrus that fades into a sort of white noise. Even the street lights seem somehow dimmer, although that could just be the moonlight washing them out.

As she gets closer to downtown Haven she expects to see _some_ people, late night bar flies just now on their way home, things like that. But the streets are _empty_ , the first real indication that this might not _quite_ be Haven; Duke hadn’t really been sure if the Walk entailed phasing slightly into a different world, or if it was a liminal state between life and death. Personally she’s not sure either way, but regardless there does seem to be something _off_ about Haven.

The sounds of laughter, and murmuring voices has her whirling around, trying to find the source; especially when she’s certain one of the laughing voices is _Nathan_. She takes a step towards where she thinks the voices are coming from when she sees a flicker of dark green—the first real splash of color she’s seen—out of the corner of her eye. She turns her head just in time to see blonde hair and a green dress vanish back towards Main Street.

Resisting the urge to call out is hard, but Audrey manages. For a brief moment she finds herself torn between chasing the voices or the woman, but in the end settles on the woman. But by the time Audrey reaches Main Street the woman’s vanished completely.

On the other hand the statue in the middle of the road is new.

Warily she approaches it. She’s not sure if it’s metal, wood, or stone, but it’s painted, the man’s clothes, hair, and eyes in black and the scales he’s holding out are a dark gray color. Nothing happens as she gets closer, and hesitantly she reaches out and touches him, wondering if he’s one of those living statues.

Except her fingers only touch cold... _something_ —even touching it she can’t tell what it’s made of—pulling her hand away she walks around him, trying to see if this is just some strange curiosity, or something actually important.

There’s no plaque or anything like that to indicate _who_ it might be, no helpful riddle for her to solve.

Yet there also seems something expectant about the scales, as if they’re waiting to do their work. Reaching out she touches them, surprised to find that they actually shift at her touch, the workmanship far finer than expected.

 _“What is Death compared to Duty?”_ A man’s voice filters from the statue and Audrey finds herself taking a step back, her heart picking up.

Silence falls over the street again, and after a few moments Audrey’s back in front of the statue, reaching out again to tap the scales.

 _“What is Death compared to Duty?”_ It’s clearly a riddle of some sort, although she’s not sure how, or even _if_ , she’s supposed to solve it.

Again a ways off she hears voices, this time she doesn’t recognize any of them, yet the urge to try and find out who is speaking is strong.

Does she really need to solve this riddle? Couldn’t she just go up to the Good Shepherd and deal with the Grim? That’s all she really needs to do after all.

So she leaves the statue and makes her way out of downtown and up the hill towards the Good Shepherd.

The hill seems to go on forever, her legs burning and aching by the time she reaches the top. Bending down she pants, trying to catch her breath; maybe she should start going running in the mornings or something. She’s never thought herself unfit, but even with Haven’s...peculiars, it’s still a small town and crimes don’t usually involve chasing down suspects.

Eventually she feels like herself again and straightens.

Only to find the Good Shepherd church isn’t where is should be.

She blinks, finding herself caught off guard. Okay, so really not Haven as she expects. And maybe she really does need to solve that riddle.

Resisting the urge to sigh she turns around and starts trudging back down the hill.

Halfway down she hears voices again, this time almost distinctly. _“Oh Duke_ , _”_ it’s almost, but not quite, _her_ voice. There’s an accent, maybe New York or something along those lines. She finds herself turning towards it, perhaps she’ll get the answers she wants even without finding the church. A trill of jazz music follows it.

She takes a step towards the almost-her voice. And again she sees a flicker of dark green and blonde out of the corner of her eye. It’s enough to give her pause; it’s only happened twice sure, but in a place like this is there such a thing as coincidence?

But who’s the woman and is her appearance good or bad? Audrey had followed her last time she heard voices and had ended up in front of the statue. Giving a silent sigh Audrey pinches the bridge of her nose.

Well she has a good idea that she has to solve the riddle before she can find the church. So it’s at least something to focus on.

As she makes her way back downtown she wracks her brain for anything she can remember about death and duty and how they might be related. But so far she’s coming up blank.

Once she’s back at the statue she takes a closer look at it, hoping that there was something about the statue that would give her a hint. But no such luck.

Again she pinches the bridge of her nose, what happens if she can’t solve the riddle and doesn’t get to the church? Will she be trapped here forever? That’s not a promising thought.

Another flash of green and blonde, going around the corner of the Herald. Seeing no reason not to Audrey chases after her again. But by the time she gets to the strip of untended dirt behind the building the mystery woman is gone again.

Headache, this place is going to give her a headache, she just knows it. It’s not quite the topsy-turviness of Wonderland, but this place has to come in an annoying second, well third. But at least Alice and Dorothy got to _speak._

The dirt tickles her feet and makes her twitchy. Nonsensical, weird ritual rules.

She frowns, something about the dirt under her feet reminding her of something. ... _heavier than a mountain_ …

Following that faint trail of a memory she finds herself scooping up a handful of dirt and heading back to the statue. Hoping it’s the right thing to do she pours it onto one of the dishes. Now that it’s done she stares at the unbalanced scales, wondering if that’s it or if she needs to do more. This time there’s no helpful voice or mystery woman.

Another sigh leaves her, making the empty scale wobble slightly.

Barely a second later a louder and more grinding sigh echoes her own and the statue vanishes. Well alright then, she guesses that’s solved then. For the second time she starts making her way towards the Good Shepherd, hoping this time it will be there.

Except this time when she reaches the bottom of the hill there’s another...statue? It doesn’t look much like any statue she’s ever seen, even the really abstract ones.

It’s humanoid, towering above her by a good foot or two, with what’s she’s sure is a head, shoulders and arms, and _a_ leg. Except they all seem to be made out of plant matter, the fingers are obscenely long, dragging on the ground vine-like, and thicker vines are pouring out of the open ‘mouth’ of it, to join with a similar looking leg.

All in all it’s...disturbing. Even moreso because it has a dessicated look to it, like an old withered plant about to die.

Like before there’s no sign of what she should do. But since touch worked with the last one she decides she might as well try it here too. Reaching out she touches the arm, not wanting to go anywhere near the head.

This time there’s no voice, but she does find herself suddenly thirsty, almost desperately so.

Well, that’s easy enough to figure out—thankfully.

Once again she returns downtown, but at least she has a goal this time. It’s easy enough to locate the Looking Glass florist; she tries the door and is unsurprised when it’s locked. But this is pseudo-Haven no one should have a problem with her breaking in right? And anyways she’s a police officer, which makes it legal; she will stand by that excuse.

Wrapping her jacket around her fist she pulls her hand back and twists her hips as she brings it towards the glass door.

Thankfully the glass actually shatters, and after knocking more of it aside she unlocks the door and opens it.

She snags a watering can, and after a moment’s hesitation a small bag of fertilizer, probably overdoing it but she might as well go the extra mile—maybe it’ll win her points and she won’t have to do a third ‘riddle’. Now to find _water_.

Ocean water won’t work of course, even she knows that—she has more of a brown thumb than a green one—but she can’t find a sink or a faucet in the shop; she’s pretty sure the real one has both those things, which means this fake Haven is fucking with her. And also that she’s unlikely to find sinks or faucets in any of the other businesses or houses nearby; meaning she’s going to have to be creative in her water source.

Going back to the...plant she at least spreads half the fertilizer over it. She sets the rest of the bag aside she goes off in search of water.

She’s only walked a few feet away when she finds herself frowning, is that… Turning her head slightly she gives a tentative sniff. Yes, she realizes, it really is lemon’s she’s smelling. It catches her off guard, and this time she gets a few steps into following it before she sees blonde and green.

Audrey’s beginning to realize that this mystery woman doesn’t want her exploring the sounds, and now smells, that have been popping up. But why? Besides being distractions, from a certain point of view, there doesn’t seem anything inherently...malicious about them. On the other hand it’s not like she knows anything about this place really—besides the fact that it seems populated by strange statues, and it’s lack of drinkable water.

With a sigh Audrey shakes her head and tries to focus on finding water, trailing after the blonde woman a third time—hey if the last time the woman took her to the dirt maybe this time she’ll take Audrey to water.

And she does, sort of.

If she had to guess she’d say it’s the Penobscot River. Except the Penobscot runs through the southern part of town and into the bay, and not what’s practically downtown Haven.

Absurd non-logic.

But it’s also water and she’s not about to question it. Warily, because it’s rushing at a faster speed than the real river does—in eerie silence no less—she approaches. Reaching the bank she stops and kneels, placing one hand on the ground next to her knees to help steady herself she stretches out the hand holding the watering can to dip it into the water.

Only to fall onto her back in her attempt to scramble away as a fucking _horse_ pops it’s head out of the water. Her free hand flies to her chest and she forces herself to breath deeply as she sits back upright, relieved at least that the horse doesn’t seem intent on doing anything more than staring at her with it’s glowing milky eyes.

Eventually she feels like she’s not about to have a heart attack and gingerly reaches out again with the watering can towards the river.

The horse...swims closer, close enough that she can see it’s mane’s seemingly covered in seaweed. When she stops it stops, which obviously means it doesn’t want her to take the water. Maybe she can bribe it? But with what?

It floats back towards the middle of the river when she pulls her hand away and starts rifling through her pockets. Receipt, lint, candy wrapper, stray bullet—that one she sets aside as a possibility—ah ha! Dime, she hopes that just paying is enough, that there’s not an expected _amount_ —she’s willing to do B&E for this but not robbery, she ignores the part of her pointing out robbery has already happened.

With an unnecessary flourish she flips the coin into the river.

The horse’s head vanishes back under the surface and before it can pop back up again she thrusts the can, hand and all into the water, hissing at the icy cold, yanking it out just as quickly.

In a flash she’s standing and hurries her way back to the plant thing.

Carelessly she pours the water onto the ground around it, by chance she glances up and east, noticing a grayness starting to come over the horizon. Which means dawn won’t be that far behind, shit.

But it seems at least with this part she doesn’t have to wait long, the plant starts to change instantly. It’s body growing thicker and more vines pouring out of it’s mouth; a sight that’s kind of disgusting actually.

One of the vines grows more horizontal than vertical, a bud appearing on it, which just as quickly as the rest of the plant blooms. It’s an almost luminous white, lovely in a way; although the smell leaves much to be desired, cloying and sticky-sweet, clinging to the back of her throat and almost making her gag.

It doesn’t vanish like the last statue, but she’s also pretty sure she’s done with it and so moves on.

This time the hill to the Good Shepherd doesn’t feel impossible, and before she knows it she’s where the church should be.

And _is_ this time, her shoulders slump in relief.

With dawn coming soon she hurries towards it, only to hit some invisible wall. She hisses in pain as she rubs her nose, of fucking course. Because the end of this freaky quest couldn’t be _easy_. Out of pettiness she kicks the wall she can’t actually see.

Behind one of the ancient headstones a pair of eyes flash.

While Audrey notices them she chooses not to think about them for now, right now she’s got to figure out how she’s going to get around something she can’t see.

Holding a hand out she places on the wall, feeling the texture of brick under her palm, she walks a few feet to the left, but only ever feels brick. It’s possible there’s a gate, but walking around the whole church would take time she doesn’t exactly have at the moment.

Of course standing around and doing nothing doesn’t help either.

Putting her hand back on the wall she decides she might as well, and hope for the best. She’s about to where the path to the church’s main doors are when, again, she sees blonde and green out of the corner of her eye.

This time the woman’s at the bottom of the hill, standing next to the plant sculpture thing. Despite the fact that she’s in plain view Audrey can’t get a good look at her; the woman herself seeming blurry and out of focus. Still, so far she hasn’t lead Audrey astray.

By the time she gets back down to the plant the woman is gone, but the watering can’s somehow full again, the half-full bag of fertilizer propped up next to it. The implication’s pretty obvious. Grabbing both she also picks the flower from it’s spot, grimacing at the smell again.

For what she hopes is the final time she climbs up the hill.

The wall is easy enough to find and she uses a finger to make a little hole at the base of it. She sticks the flower’s stem in it, then fills the dirt back in. She pours the fertilizer, then the water over it.

It’s like watching one of those hi-speed films. In a flash more vines than Audrey can count are bursting from the ground around the flower, flowing over the wall like water and making it visible to her. She finds herself running after it, mindful of the yellow-white starting to tinge the eastern sky.

And there, a _gate_. One that swings open easily at her touch.

 _Finally_ Audrey steps onto the grounds of the Good Shepherd church, she feels, well she feels like she’s been wandering for hours on an empty stomach and solving puzzles that are far more difficult than they have any right to be—although that could be the hunger talking.  

But now she’s here and just like Duke said she can feel something watching her. Head held high she begins walking around the church, she trusts that Grim won’t attack her unless she tries to deface anything, she just has to finish seeing this through. As she finishes walking counterclockwise she feels something in her mind settle, or maybe open up.

Either way when she gets to the front door of the church for the final time there’s a man all in black waiting for her, well a man with a dog’s head. “What do you seek?”

The dog’s head doesn’t move but the man still speaks, a deep voice that nearly rattles her bones. She, she can do this. “I seek a glimpse of my future. Answers to my questions,” her own voice feels strange after being silent so long. She has so many, and it feels like so little time to get them—she can only guess how close to dawn it is.

A nod and the man-dog approaches her, mouth opening to reveal a void. Wider and wider until panic’s crawling in her throat and it’s only her self-control keeping her in place.

Even so she still struggles when the mouth envelops her.

She’s never been all that scared of the dark, but this might be the start of a fear.

In an instant the black turns to white and her eyes squeeze shut at the brightness of it.

“Mom?”

Her eyes fly open at the sound of a young man’s voice. There’s no one in front of her, but when she turns around she sees...James. James, who should be _dead_.

“Mom!” A smile on his face tugs at her heart and she stands frozen as he gets up and almost rushes her. It’s clear he wants to sweep her up into a hug, but he just passes right through her. Maybe he is dead. But why would a vision of the future show her a dead man?

He looks dejected for a moment and her heart goes out to him. “I’m Audrey Parker,” she resists the instinct to hold out her hand. “You think I’m your mom?” She still feels uncertain if she believes Nathan in that she’s the same body every time, just a different woman.

“I know, it was hard for me to believe at first too. But Lucy and I found it out, I’m Sarah Vernon’s son.” James’ smile turns wry. “We never did find out who my father is.” Staring at him Audrey can see bits of herself, of Sarah in him, and just maybe...no she can think about that right now. “But it’s nice to meet you Audrey. Even if you’re not really here.”

She looks around the seemingly featureless white space. “Where is here?”

James gives a small sigh and moves to stand next to her. “It’s called the Barn, you, you come here after the end of each cycle. And well,” he shrugs. “I’m not sure what exactly happens, but when you come back out you’re someone new.” Maybe this isn’t the future, maybe this is _answers_.

“How do you know that? And why hasn’t it happened to you?” She wants to believe him, but the yawning lack of answers and far too many questions is gnawing at her.

“Nana told me, she, she can’t really visit-visit because, well she said something complicated about magic and rules.” He waves a hand. “But this place was constructed for _you_ so for _us_ it’s just a...holding cell.” He takes a step away. “If you don’t believe me. You’ve got a scar on your bottom right foot, Lucy got it when she and I were out chasing a will o'the wisp.”

Audrey blinks, because that’s about all she _can_ do; she knows exactly what scar he’s talking about. She’d always thought it a weird birthmark, she’s always had it. If it really did come from Lucy… “Us? And who do you mean ‘Nana’?”

James holds out a hand, “come on, right over here.”

Part of Audrey wants to take James’ hand as they walk, to feel the warm comfort of it as they go through what she realizes is a _doorway_ —how Labyrinth of it. And there, tucked against the other side of the wall is a bed, with a sleeping woman in it.

Her hair’s dark, and her features are slight, if she were standing Audrey’d guess they’re about the same height. She looks too young to be ‘nana’, but then again Audrey’s apparently centuries old herself—not to mention Duke and Nathan.

“Mom, Audrey,” part of her appreciates that. “This is Jennifer, she’s my half-sister.”

Audrey stares at the woman, _two_ kids? Darkness starts to creep around the edges of her vision. No! She feels so close to something _concrete_. “James.” His blue eyes look into hers, and the world starts to go gray. “James, who’s her father?” At the moment it feels like the most important question in the world.

James makes a face, one that she barely sees. “I don’t know,” he sounds sad about it. “I think nana knows, but she only said that Jenny’s twenty seven years older. You’re leaving aren’t you?” He sounds even sadder.

She doesn’t know if he can see her, but she gives her best comforting smile. “Yeah.”

“Look, nana said that if you got us out we could help you. Help you get free.” He steps towards her again his hand reaching out, and for a brief moment she thinks she can feel him.

Then there’s only darkness again.

Twenty seven years before I was Sarah, I was Maggie; Audrey remembers, but before she can follow that to the conclusion she finds herself in a field.

It’s a viewpoint she knows, one that’s off towards east Haven, popular necking spot with the locals. She’s standing next to an old stump, the rings of it so worn that she can’t even guess how old the tree is.

Warm hands cup her cheeks and her gaze flies to their owner. His features are somehow hazy, but she sees blue eyes and a smile she thinks is supposed to be loving. “Don’t you remember what I told you Mara? I’d always find you, no matter what.”

Darkness again.

The cold night air almost feels like a shock after so little sensation. Opening her eyes, when did she close them?, she realizes she’s back on church grounds. Without really meaning to she finds herself glancing east, towards the hill in her vision, and the colorful dawn behind it.

A breeze picks up and she gives a little shiver. She tears her gaze away and looks to the street, there waiting for her are Duke and Nathan.

She’s....she’s got a lot to talk to them about.

-

_Somewhere in Morocco…_

The relentless summer sun has sent everyone inside, leaving the streets all but empty. William likes it that way, enjoying the semi-solitude while he can.

Around him he can feel the flicker of human emotion as they live out their petty lives. Usually he’d be more than happy to wiggle his way into a house, or a cafe; smile at the right person, drop a veiled hint or two, imply something with everything but words, and watch as the humans tore each other apart.

Usually, but not right now. Now he has to focus, because just for the barest of moments he felt _her_ , a barely there flutter, a tease; _come find me, if you can_.

A knife sharp smile splits his face, of course he can.

But first he has to get there, he’s always known there was something about that strange little town, the one he’d only been able to step into once. He wonders if she has another little abomination there, taking care of the first one had been _fun_ . He might not have seen _her_ , but he’s certain that’s where she’s been hiding.

Even from here though, he can do _something_. Finding an abandoned awning he settles under it, cool cement abrading his cheek. Closing his eyes he lets himself fall.

_“So then, boy.” A man all in reds, with impossible scarlet hair and gold eyes lounged in the chair, expression bored. “What did she name you?”_

_“Guillaume.” He responded, still slightly in awe of the man who was, according to his mother, her father._

_The man laughed, a sound that seemed better suited to a donkey than a nobleman in Guillaume’s mind. The laughter soon died down to a smile that he was certain could cut the very air itself. “Well, she clearly has high hopes for you, and seems to think me my sister.” Both things seemed to amuse him more than anger him. “Still, I did have my hand in the man.”_

_His father stood, towering impossibly tall in Guillaume’s mind. “Here’s a good first lesson for you boy, you let your emotions get the better of you and your opponent has already won.” At barely nine, Guillaume didn’t know if he understood, but he wanted to._

_His father, Duilio the servant had told him on the way to his chambers, began to leave the room, Guillaume stood there unsure of how to proceed._

_“Well,” Duilio snapped, yet somehow Guillaume couldn’t feel any of the usual emotions he would from such a tone. “Are you coming boy? I’m in need of a new page.”_

The memory fades away as he finds himself in the web of the world, where it’s an easy enough thing to move from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of the United States, and from there even easier to find the little circle of emptiness, sticking out like a sore thumb.

There might not be any connections going _in_ , at least none that he can follow just yet, but there are plenty going out. And it’s an easy thing to follow the bitterest one he can find. A man getting dead drunk in a bar, William’s worked with worse. Leaving a mark on him William returns to his own body.

Whistling up a jaunty tune he sticks his hands in his pockets and starts walking towards the airport. He’s got places to be and lovers to punish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi William! Glad you could finally make it.
> 
>  
> 
> Also that plant that Audrey encounters is based on [a real thing](http://pumpkinrot.com/pages/Page17.htm).


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little early, but who cares!

Nathan feels anxious as he and Duke wait for Audrey, it’s getting close to dawn and if Duke’s right she should be finishing up her ârsgång. He wishes he could have gone with her on it, except for Duke’s insistence that she do it alone; and the church. Even standing on the sidewalk in front of it makes him uncomfortable, but he can bear it.

Seemingly out of nowhere Parker appears, she stumbles slightly, but catches herself before she falls. Nathan lets Duke get to her first, wrapping the heavy wool blanket he’s been carrying over her shoulders. She huddles into it and Nathan steps up and offers her a thermos full of coffee.

Her smile of thanks as she takes a sip makes him smile in response.

“How’d it go?” Even though he’s speaking quietly Duke’s question still shatters a sort of peace.

Under the blanket Parker shrugs. “It...wasn’t what I expected. But I think I got what I wanted, or at least some of it.” Her gaze darts around the empty street. “Can we, talk somewhere else? I don’t want anyone overhearing.”

Nathan suggests his house at the same moment Duke suggests the _Rouge_ , they share a look and stick out their fists. A short round of rock paper scissors later and Nathan’s won. But he lets Duke help Audrey into the Bronco.

Dawn’s well and truly on them by the time they reach his cottage; the ocean turning colorful as the sun paints the clouds.

Nathan leads them in, joining Parker on the couch when she sits—all the while wishing he’d thought to clean up yesterday, his front room is a mess—Duke heads into the kitchen and begins rummaging around; for once Nathan doesn’t stop him. “What happened?” He wants to hold her hand, to see if she feels as cold as she sort of looks—not hypothermic by a long shot, but definitely not as warm as she should be—but he holds himself back.

Parker’s lips twitch, as if he’s just said something funny, but she takes another sip and dutifully begins. “I did the walk and made it to the church, after I met the Grim and told him, them?, what I wanted it ate me...it was weird.” Nathan feels a flash of anger, but beyond the slight chill she seems alright. “I ended up in this white...space,” she frowns a little. “At least that’s the best way I can describe it. I saw James there.”

Nathan blinks. “He’s dead,” the words sound almost wooden to him; he’d always liked James, and his death had been a real tragedy.

Parker gives a gusty sigh. “I know, that’s what I thought too, I guess I didn’t actually ask him if he was _dead_ or not, but I had other things to think about. He said we were in a place called the Barn, that I go there at the end of every cycle and when I come out I’m someone completely different.”

He does feel a little bad for Parker, she’d held on so long to the idea that she was descended from Lucy and Sarah and on. In a way he’s glad his own idea had been right, but it’s not the best way to learn it; especially considering how ominous her words sound.

“Or at least he said that’s what it is for _me_ , he said for anyone else it’s a...holding cell I guess. Duke,” she calls out to the kitchen. Nathan can smell something cooking—pancakes hopefully, although Duke might be making waffles, maybe eggs too. “Can you come here, you need to hear this too.” She doesn’t seem to care that Duke can hear them just fine in the kitchen, Nathan’s cottage is small enough that you could hear anything in the place from anywhere.

Still, Duke comes out, towel over his shoulder, taking a seat on the other side of Audrey when she pats the couch. “So what should I be hearing?” Duke, sounds odd to Nathan’s ears, but he can’t pinpoint _why_.

“James,” she blows out a breath, not exactly meeting either of their gazes. “James told me he was my son.” Nathan finds himself staring at Audrey gaping, in a way _everything_ between Lucy and James makes sense now; but on the other hand he can’t really believe it.

“Or well,” a bloom of warmth on his knee shocks him and he looks down to see Audrey’s hand there. “To be more accurate he’s Sarah’s son.” Now she’s looking him right in the eye. “Sarah and yours Nathan.”

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him stupefied. The words ‘son’ and ‘yours’ causing gleeful chaos in his mind.

And before he can even think to get a hold of himself Duke stands, but before he can even take a step Audrey’s other hand shoots out and snags his wrist. “I’m not done Duke, this next bit is what you need to hear.”

Duke tenses, but he doesn’t leave. “What?” he bites out, clearly not happy.

“James, isn’t the only one stuck in this Barn place. There’s, there’s a woman as well. She was sleeping, I don’t know if she’s stuck that way for some reason or if she was just tired and James didn’t want to wake her,” Audrey gives a shake of her head, possibly to focus herself. “But he introduced her to me. Her name is Jennifer, and she’s his half-sister. She’s older than him by twenty seven years.”

Nathan’s brain can’t exactly figure out what’s important about any of that, still stuck on the fact that somehow he and Sarah had a son, one that he didn’t know about.

Duke however seems to get it just fine. A bitter laugh escapes him and he shakes off Audrey’s hand. “Yeah, go ahead, pull the other one Parker.” There’s even more anger in Duke’s voice now, but it’s not as much of a shock to Nathan as his use of Audrey’s last name. “Maybe I’ll believe you.”

Her hand leaves his knee as she surges upright, anger of her own on her face. “Evander Crocker,” Nathan’s a little glad she’s not _that_ angry with him. “Are you saying I’m _lying_ to you? Why would I do that over something so important as yours and Maggie’s daughter?” And there’s another ton of bricks on Nathan’s head.

“ _Because Crockers can’t have daughters!_ ” Duke whirls on Audrey, eyes silver, face torn between anger and sadness, the bits of his scent Nathan can pick up seeming just as conflicted.

For a moment the only sounds are of Duke’s heavy breathing, his outburst seeming to catch them all off guard. Audrey’s expression changes and Nathan watches as she goes and hugs Duke, burying her face in his jacket—Nathan’s too numb to feel anything, good or bad, over it. “Talk to me Duke, because I know what I saw and heard. As far as I know I’m not lying.”

Duke seems to attempt to get out of the hug, but Audrey’s not letting him go so easily this time, his hands move uncertainly before falling to his sides. “As far back as you can go on the Crocker family tree there’s only male children Audrey. Never in over a thousand years has a Crocker produced a daughter.” Another huff of bitter laughter escapes him. “There’s even a nursery rhyme here in Haven about it.” Which is news to Nathan.

“Crocker boys, Crocker boys,” Duke’s eyes close as he begins reciting. “Never play with toys. Crocker girls, Crocker girls, don’t exist in this world.” Again he laughs, “not the best rhyme, but it’s the truth.”

Audrey pulls away from Duke, just enough to look up at him. “Look at me Duke,” she says quietly, Nathan’s certain he’s glued to his seat as he watches Duke’s eyes open and look down on Audrey. “Good.” Her warm smile makes a tiny crack in the strange numbness that fills Nathan. “Now, this Year Walk, I see the truth right?”

Duke nods, but it seems a grudging one.

“Alright, so I would have been Maggie when I had her.” Audrey makes a face for a moment, to be fair the words sound strange even to Nathan. “And according to both you and Nathan you’re the only person Maggie had sex with while she was here in Haven?”

There’s a moment of silence, then Duke croaks out, “yeah.”

“Would you, or anyone, have realized if she was _noticeably_ pregnant when she arrived, she was here in Haven for ten months right?”

“Yeah,” Nathan’s voice is a shock even to him. But it has to be said. If Maggie had been pregnant _before_ she came to Haven, someone would have noticed; and she definitely would have given birth while she was here.

Audrey nods. “Then, once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable is the truth? Right?”

For some reason this makes Nathan laugh, both Audrey and Duke turning their heads slightly to look at him in askance. “Sorry,” he mutters when he’s gotten control of himself.

Stepping away from Duke Audrey takes his hands in hers and leads him back to the couch. Resettling the blanket on herself she then takes his and and Duke’s hands in her own, Nathan finds himself wondering if she knows she’s doing it. Not that he’s going to stop her. “James also said that if I got them out of this Barn place they could help me, that they could ‘get me free’, but free of what?” A thread of frustration enters her voice. “Of course that’s when I left and ended up somewhere else.”

Nathan finds himself squeezing her hand in comfort. “Where was it?” It’s easy to fall back into the habit at least, which leaves the rest of his mind to try and figure out how the fact that he has a _son_ fits in with everything else.

“That makeout point in east Haven? The hill with the stump.” Nathan nods, he knows the place. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Duke’s thumb rubbing circles on the back of Audrey’s hand. “There was this man,” she makes a face of annoyance. “His features were blurry somehow. He was taller than me, blue eyes, light tan skin maybe? He was smiling at me, my face was cupped in his hands. He told me, no, he _reminded_ me that he once told me he’d find me no matter what.”

Nathan finds the words raise his hackles, but getting jealous of someone she used to know isn’t going to do him any good.

Which is about when he realizes Audrey’s trembling. “He, he didn’t call me Audrey, or Sarah, or any of the names we know...me by.”

“What did he call you Audrey?” If he’s feeling angry still Duke’s voice doesn’t reveal it, his tone soothing and calm.

She takes a deep breath her hand stilling in his as she gets control of herself. “Mara, he called me Mara.”

-

Duke stands behind the bar at the Gray Gull and ruthlessly polishes a glass. Everything from this morning making a right mess in his brain.

 _“We should all just...think about things.” Audrey’s hands squeezed theirs, clearly trying to impart_ some _comfort. “For now at least. Tomorrow,” she takes a deep breath. “Tomorrow I want to talk to Vince and Dave.”_ And then they’d gone their separate ways, at least they’d let him feed them first.

He’s actually sort of glad to get some alone time. Getting his head back in some semblance of order is going to take some work. It’d probably be better for him to be on the _Rouge_ or _Amphitrite_ and meditating; but right now he doesn’t want to be alone-alone. So the Gull will do.

 _He has a_ daughter. Part of his mind still refuses to accept it, that it can’t be his child, not unless Jennifer is transgender or something along those lines. Yet either way the facts as Audrey’s lined them up are sort of inescapable. He _definitely_ would have noticed if Maggie had been pregnant, it was hard _not_ to notice something like that when you spent a lot of time together.

“What’d that glass ever do to you Crocker?” His head shoots up to see Rachael, regular, sometimes fling, sitting across from him playing with the straw of her margarita.

Setting it down he picks up another, letting his hands go through the motions. “Nothing. Just thinking,” his tone suggests she better leave it as well, this is _not_ something he wants to tell anyone who doesn’t already know.

Above him he can hear Audrey moving around her apartment, and it’s a hard to resist the urge to go up there and just _be_ with her. Sex would be wonderful if he could get it, but right now he finds he’d happily content himself with just sharing the same room as her.

But she’d wanted time alone to think and he’d damn well give it to her.

Funny how he’d long since given up on trying to create distance, to keep himself from falling for her.

Now he just sees it as pointless, he wants her, just as much as he wants Nathan. Why deny himself the chance? Life is fleeting, even for a relative immortal like him, and he should enjoy this one while he can—who knows what his next might bring?

So no more fighting against what he wants, he’ll just chase it to the ground unless they tell him no.

“Seems like quite the thought.” Her tone is inviting, clearly wanting to hear his troubles; but even if she were Buddha himself Duke’s not in a divulging mood. Even moreso to someone who’s not in the know of his problems. She’s got no right to them, for all that they’ve had sex a few times. Even if Audrey had insisted that they not share what she’d learned in her ârsgång to anyone else just yet.

Instead he ignores Rachael and goes to serve another customer, hoping she gets the hint.

Lucky him she apparently does, because her seat’s empty by the time he glances that way again. “Jackie you got a handle on everything?” He finds himself asking the woman who actually _should_ be tending bar, although to be fair she seems more than happy to sit around and read while he does her job.

“Yeah,” she answers, tucking her book away and joining him, gracing one of the patrons with a flirtatious smile. “Scat boss, let me work.” Her voice is full of easygoing cheer.

He scats, leaving his truck in the lot he runs to the harbor, letting the warm summer breeze and the familiar motions sooth at least _some_ of his mind—now if only it would calm _all_ of it.

When he reaches his slip he finds himself heading towards the _Amphitrite_ instead of the _Rouge_ ; not that it matters to him right now, one boat will be as good as the other.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering if you lost a few days somehow this week, I'm here to say you haven't. I am indeed posting on a Tuesday. Not because I won't be here on Thursday, but because today's my birthday! My gift to you lovely readers is _two_ chapters this week! So enjoy!

It’s been a few days now, and Audrey finally  feels collected enough to face the rest of the world. Which is just as well, she’s sure if she stayed up in her apartment for another day, Duke or Nathan would have come up and tried to drag her out, or maybe it would have been Claire who made the attempt—Audrey did at least call her the other day to set up an appointment to talk.

But that needs to wait for later, now, now she, Duke and Nathan need to find out whatever they can about what she’s learned.

She leads them as they head to the _Herald_ , Vince and Dave have to know _something_ about Mara, maybe even an explanation on how James wasn’t really dead—she can’t imagine he’d fake his death, but being resurrected also seems just as improbable.

In a way it feels good to have Duke and Nathan at her back, they’re just as caught up in whatever this is as she is, and just as determined as she to figure out what the hell is going on.

Lucky for her both Vince and Dave are in the office, then again it seems to be a slow news week if the paper itself is anything to go by. She hopes it also means they’ll be more willing to help, chasing a story even if they can’t actually _publish_ it. Marching up to their shared desk she sets her hands on it and leans in slightly. “Do either of you have any records of a woman named Mara?” For her it’s the best place to start, whoever that guy in her vision was he knows an incarnation of herself that neither Nathan or Duke know of.

“No,” Dave answers almost immediately, but out of the corner of her eye she sees Vince stiffen slightly.

She focuses on him then. “You’ve heard the name before?” It’s not quite an accusation, but it’s close.

His eyes dart for a second, then he shrugs. “It’s a common enough name, I’m sure I recognize it from a birth announcement.”

“No, this would be from before 1874,” Duke nor Nathan know the name of her incarnation before Constance, but from then on she at least knows who she’s been, so Mara had to be before any of them. “Maybe we could have a look at the Archives?” So far only Dave and Vince seem to go there, but she doesn’t see why anyone else can’t.

Vince opens his mouth, but it seems Dave already knows the line. “Oh come on Vince, it won’t hurt.” She’s a little grateful Dave seems to be partially on their side.

“No,” Vince looks about as stubborn as he sounds. “If any of the things we have there get out it could be dangerous.”

She can practically feel Duke and Nathan tense behind her. “Really?” Nathan sounds incredulous. “You expect us to go tattling to everyone we meet about what we find in there? You know us better than that Vince.”

Vince’s eyes narrow. “No, Nathan, I’m not going to change my mind. The archive has been in the keeping of the Teagues for generations, and I’m not going to throw that trust away just because you have a name.”

Audrey steps closer to him, but before she can even _think_ to protest, it could _help_ her figure out why she keeps coming back—yes a week ago she would have thought the idea ludicrous, but now she finds herself believing in it the same way a man who lives on the coast believes in a hurricane—Duke grabs her arm and tugs her back slightly. “Alright, well thanks then.” Duke’s voice is surprisingly pleasant as he tugs her back slightly.

When she whirls on him the expression he gives her brooks no argument. At least she’s not the only one, if Nathan’s unhappy expression is anything to go by.

Still, they both let Duke lead them out of the _Herald_ and towards the Bronco. They’re on a basically empty side street when Nathan turns on Duke. “What the hell Duke? They’re hiding something. We should have pushed!”

“Yes,” Duke agrees, which seems to take all the wind out of Nathan’s sails. “But you know as well as I do how stubborn Vince is. And anyways, I’ve got a much better idea for getting into the Archive.”

“How?” Audrey finds she doesn’t even care if it’s the most illegal thing in the world, she just _needs_ to know.

Duke looks appropriately smug. “There’s an entrance to it in the Crocker house.”

-

Duke probably shouldn’t be so pleased with his work around the Teagues, well Vince really, problem, but he is. Although to be fair he’d almost forgotten completely about said entrance.

At least it doesn’t feel strange to lead Audrey and Nathan through his childhood home, through the kitchen and down to the root cellar. It does take him slightly longer than he’d like—he’s trying to _impress them_ damn it—to _find_ the entrance, but it eventually happens and he makes quick work of the wood hiding it.

The little bow he makes is only slightly mocking. “And here we are.”

Nathan, ever the gentleman—or martyr—holds Audrey back from going first. “We don’t know what’s down there.” For some reason she lets him take the lead.

Not that he gets very far, his radio crackling to life. “Nathan honey, you there?” Laverne’s voice seems to fill the space.

Duke can commiserate with Nathan’s angry sigh. But instead of ignoring it, why didn’t Nathan ever consider that possibility?, he unhooks the radio. “What is it Laverne?”

“There’ve been people calling in, panicking about something at the bus station, chief wants you and Audrey to check it out.” And like that, any hope of digging up _anything_ dies a quiet death.

“We’ll be there in a few,” Nathan responds before reattaching his radio. “Looks like this is gonna have to wait.”

For a moment Audrey rests her head against the old brick, then musters up a smile. “No rest for the wicked?” Her joke falls a little flat, but Duke appreciates the sentiment.

They both exit the tunnel, brushing past Duke to do so, while he finds himself lingering. “Duke, you coming?” Audrey’s voice calls out. He gives the tunnel a look, it would be so easy to say no, to head down there all by his lonesome and get a head start on the search. But he knows he won’t, because who is he kidding? He’ll follow these two to the ends of the damn Earth.

“Yeah,” he calls back. Then turning around he jogs to catch up.

-

The bus station is a mess, but there’s less than Nathan feared there would be. Mostly people terrified out of their minds, each with tales of their own personal fears to tell. He’s got a good idea for _what_ it is—pandemonium's hard to mistake for anything else—but as for who caused it...well that’s anyone’s guess right now; although Audrey had mentioned seeing a young man and woman running away from the station.

Not that they can chase after that possible lead just yet, all three of them—it should probably disturb Nathan more than it does how easily Duke’s fallen into the pattern of ‘them’—work to calm people down and in Audrey’s case hopefully keep a man from dying of a heart attack.

But a half an hour later and they’ve taken all the statements they can, not that they’re much use, each one contradicting every other, and the EMTs have arrived to do their work.

He finds Audrey leaning against the side of the station, her face looking far too wan and worn. “Are you okay?” He wonders if this fearing over her is the usual or if there’s somehow more of it now that he knows she’s the mother of his heretofore unknown son.

“I’ll be fine,” which isn’t a yes. But before he can argue with her about it Duke appears from the other side of the station, a cup of water in his hands. Which Nathan is glad to see Audrey accepts without protest—he wonders how she’d react if he just picked her up and carried her down to Haven Joe’s, insisting she eat. “Thanks,” she tells Duke.

“By the way,” it’s hard to miss the fact that Duke’s hovering as much as Nathan is—and he’s too relieved that someone else is as worried as he is over Audrey to be anything resembling jealous—“I checked out that spot you said you saw the two kids running off, and I think I caught their scents.”

Which is at least something.

Audrey gives a nod as she finishes off her water, crumpling the cup and throwing it into the nearby garbage can, “can you follow it?”

Nathan would protest her focusing on work—despite it being hypocritical—but they also need to deal with whomever’s got the pandemonium before they get anyone killed. Duke nods. “Yeah, shouldn’t be be too hard, they’re both scared so it lays a thicker trail.” He watches as Duke closes his eyes and just breathes. “Uh Nathan?”

“Huh?” Nathan frowns, not having expected Duke to speak to him.

“You’re bleeding.” At Duke’s comment Nathan looks himself over and sees that there is indeed blood on the back of his hand, although the wound’s already healed. Sometimes he hates not being able to feel, licking his finger he rubs it off.

“Thanks,” he says feeling slightly abashed.

A grin twitches at Duke’s lips. “No problem, pretty sure the both of you need minders at this point. And two of me wouldn’t be enough.”

“Hey, I was doing just fine before I met either of you Duke,” the annoyance in Audrey’s tone isn’t hard to miss.

“I’ll bet you were,” Duke responds easily. “But considering what’s been going on the past few days I think we all should be taking it a little easy.” Nathan’s not about to argue that point, however…

“Since when has Haven let us take anything easy?” At least during upticks like this.

Duke sighs, “point. But after we track down these kids we’re eating.” He finishes stubbornly.

Audrey pushes herself off the building and rolls her shoulders. “Fine.”

"I’m certainly not going to argue.” Nathan responds as he leads the way to the Bronco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have the start of my second episode re-write, "Fear and Loathing"!
> 
> Also reviews make great birthday presents...


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I want to do a shoutout to the wonderful serendipityxxi, who's been a fantastic writing partner for the past month or so. (also you should totally read her stuff, it's fantastic)

Nathan finds himself wondering why he hadn’t thought the pandemonium wouldn’t work on him, he might be immune to some things by virtue of what he is, but not _everything_. And certainly not fear.

Parker charges on ahead, as unaffected as ever, while Duke forces him to sit down and fusses. Right now Nathan can’t even find it in him to protest. Maybe it’s because he’s not the only person Duke’s fussing over.

Staring at his knees Nathan forces himself to breath as he listens to Duke patching up Bryan. Having that to focus on at least is better than the alternative. _Audrey and Duke_...Nathan shakes his head and tilts it back to stare at the ceiling. He doesn’t think he’s going to throw up but it’s a near thing.

“Nathan?” Duke’s warm fingers brush against his arms, bringing him back to the now.

Tilting his head back down Nathan looks at Duke, finding himself unsurprised by the concern there. When did that stop surprising him? He shakes his head trying to not wonder about that. “I’m okay,” it’s almost the truth even.

Duke huffs, but doesn’t argue. His fingers stay on Nathan’s arm, warm points of contact that he finds keeps him here instead of thinking on other things. Did Duke even know that he was still touching Nathan? Especially since Duke still didn’t know it did anything to Nathan. He finds that the whole thing makes him strangely hyper-aware.

Thankfully Parker reappears, Jackie in tow—now wearing sunglasses. “Okay,” she glances over the both of them, her eyebrow arching at Duke’s fingers—but she doesn’t mention it—“So lets try and figure this out.”

-

Kids, and Buddha they are just kids—he feels a little bad for Jackie, getting saddled with this power far too young—settled and promising not to cause more problems for the time being, and all the important questions asked and answered; Duke has no problem grabbing Audrey and Nathan and herding them. Rolling his eyes at Nathan’s sound of annoyance when he takes the driver’s seat. “Hey, you both agreed to lunch. You don’t get to complain.”

He takes them to the Gull, it’s not like he doesn’t like any of the other restaurants in town, but on the other hand he doesn’t have the control in those places that he does here. He sits them down in a corner, bypassing Jake, and after making sure they’ll stay there—right now he’s half expecting a rogue wave to come and sweep them away—vanishes into the kitchen.  

Lacey and Roger are busy at work, but there’s room for him to slip and and throw something together at least. And ten minutes later he’s back at the table with a tray full of food. “Eat,” he tells them both as he sets down plates, pointedly putting some of them in front of his spot.

Dropping the tray off he grabs waters from the bar and finally sits. Happy to see that they’re both already eating. He digs in himself, it might not be his best work, but it’s damn good.

“Duke?” There’s an odd tone to Audrey’s voice, and her scent’s gone funny, and he blinks as he looks up at her.

“Yeah?”

She sets her fork down, “what’s with this? You’re fussing.”

He blinks again, opens his mouth to protest that he’s _not_ the type to fuss—except that he is—then closes it because he’s pretty sure not even Nathan will believe that lie. On the other hand what the hell is he supposed to say? ‘Because I love you both too damn much and I wasn’t lying about the minder thing’? Except that he’s not sure Audrey will believe it, possibly thinking it influenced by the daughter he and Maggie have—gods above he’s still not really used to the idea. As for Nathan, well he seems more inclined to trust Duke now, but who knows how he’ll react to _that_.

“Someone’s got to look after the both of you, otherwise you’re both gonna run yourselves to the ground.” A believable middle road.

Audrey arches an eyebrow. “Uh huh,” or maybe not so believable.

He glances at Nathan, except he doesn’t look like he’ll be much help his expression mirroring Audrey’s and shit, this is not where he wants to be right now. Why can’t they leave well enough alone and just enjoy their food?

Maybe he can lead by example, diving into his own food again. Except a few moments later Nathan speaks up. “Avoiding this isn’t going to help Duke?”

A laugh escapes him, that’s rich coming from Nathan. “Says you,” he snipes back. When did they become so...aware? Hell it’s not like either of them have _experience_ with werewolf instincts—not that Duke’s much better sometimes, but he’s had centuries to get used to them at least. Either way he’s not sure he likes it. It doesn’t help that things have changed, whether for better or worse has yet to be seen.

Granted Duke can’t actually find that out if he tries to wall them out, not that he’s relishing the alternative right now. He finds he’s lost his appetite and sets his fork aside. “It’s not exactly easy to talk about,” he finds himself admitting, leaning back and letting his gaze wander over the restaurant, making notes of problems to talk to his people about later.

“Well you’re in good company then,” there’s a smile on Audrey’s face, it’s probably a good thing one of them can be glib about this; even if there is a serious look in her eyes. She surprises him even more when she reaches out and places a hand on his forearm. “I don’t know about Nathan, but I’m willing to listen whenever you’re ready.”

His gaze darts to Nathan to see the other man’s cheeks are pink. “What she said.”

Huh, that’s unexpected. He might not be able to talk about it today, there is such a thing as too much too soon. But maybe things aren’t as dire as he thought they were.

-

Audrey paces her apartment, she should be getting to sleep—even if it is early yet, even for her—but she can’t, too worked up from today. Their strange new case, Duke keeping something from her and Nathan—at least with that one she knows it’s not about the case itself—and to top it all off she’s still got far too many questions about this ‘Barn’ place and her _children_.

Hopefully when this case is over they’ll have the free time to actually check out the Archive for themselves, it had been hard to resist the urge to hug and kiss Duke on the cheek when he’d shown them the tunnel in his basement. So they at least still have _some_ good luck.

She wanders over to her bookshelf, hoping that a good book will distract her for at least a little while; but her phone rings catching her off guard. Her hands fumble it for a second when she realizes it’s Nathan calling her but she soon answers.

“Hi, is something wrong?” She has no doubt they’re friends—and she finds she’d like it to be more, but she also doesn’t want their _son_ to be the reason he’s with her—but he’s not exactly the type to call her up to talk.

“Parker...Audrey…” Him using her first name puts her on high alert. “I, I can _feel_.” The words, and the awe in his voice, catch her so off guard that she doesn’t understand him for about a minute.

But then the implications catch up to her. “What? Nathan, how?” Not exactly coherent, but can she really be blamed?

“I,” he sounds shaken, which she understands. “I don’t know. I was getting a glass of water before I headed to bed and as I was drinking it I realized I, I could _feel_ the glass. Then I,” his tone turns embarrassed. “I dropped it.”

“Did you move?” She knows he heals faster than most people, but still walking on glass would hurt like hell.

“No,” she breathes a small sigh of relief.

Bursting into action she grabs her keys and shoves her feet into her shoes. “Well don’t move, at all. I’ll be there in a few minutes and we’ll deal with it.” Not giving him time to protest she hangs up and jogs out the door, past the still bustling Gull and to her car.

At least she knows the way to Nathan’s house, and it only takes her a few minutes to reach it.

Just like always the cheery yellow cottage catches her off guard, it’s never been what she expects of Nathan’s house, but she kind of likes it that way as well.

She tries the knob and is relieved to find out it hadn’t locked it yet. “Nathan?” She calls out as she pushes the door open.

“In the kitchen,” he calls out, over Laverne’s voice coming the radio on the coffee table. Laverne sounds like she’s about to send someone over to Nathan’s house herself if he doesn’t respond to her.

Audrey scoops it up, realizing that it’s surrounded by _craft_ supplies—not that she can really focus on that at the moment. “Hey Laverne, Nathan dropped a glass and he called me to help up clean up.”

“Thank goodness sweetheart,” relief fills the woman’s voice. “Poor boy was about to give me a heart attack.”

She finds herself grinning slightly as she enters the kitchen, not that Nathan seems to appreciate her good humor. Tossing him the radio she asks, “where’s the broom?” She’d prefer the vacuum but she’s not sure she’ll have the time; if Laverne’s calling Nathan at this late an hour something’s clearly happened.

“Closet,” he gestures to a door off in the corner. “What’s going on Laverne?” He says to the radio.

Grabbing the broom Audrey sweeps quickly as she listens to Laverne tell Nathan the basics of a robbery at the Fisheries Museum.

“Alright,” he finally responds. “We’ll be over in a few.” There’s a beat of silence before Nathan speaks again. “Thanks,” he sounds slightly flustered, and she has to bite back a smile.

Sweeping everything up into the dustpan she shrugs. “Not a problem,” she makes a note to remind him to vacuum as she tosses the glass away. Turning around to put the broom and dustpan away she stops. “You’re not wearing clothes.”

Well, alright he’s wearing boxers, but it’s still the most undressed she’s ever seen him, and, well...she lets herself stare, a little. Especially when a blush starts creeping up his chest. But she tears herself away and focuses on putting the broom away.

“I’m, going to get dressed.” He sounds harried and she lets him go without even sparing him another glance. Once the broom is away she heads to the front room again.

This may be her second time in Nathan’s house, but she didn’t exactly spare the time to look around...Christ was it only last week? More concerned with the ârsgång and everything she’d found out.

Not that she has more time this go around, what with Nathan re-entering the room in seemingly no time at all. “Come on,” she doesn’t fight him when he starts ushering her out the front door, the action somehow helping her slot into work-mode too.

So she doesn’t ask about the crafting supplies as they drive to the museum, even though she wants to, instead letting her brain wonder on _who_ would want to rob a small local history museum.

The security guard seems relieved when they get there and starts explaining via babbling about how none of the alarms were triggered, except for the one on the glass case that was shattered. A glass case that apparently had an early 18th century puzzle board in it. A glass case right in front of the tiniest fireplace Audrey’s ever seen.

“Well, I think we’ve got a good idea why your lack of feeling was stolen.” There couldn’t be any other way for someone to get in.

Nathan looks almost discomfited by the idea that someone stole his ‘ability’ so they could rob Haven. “Think this will goad the museum into getting security cameras?” The lack of even a description of their perp seems to be getting to Nathan too.

“No bet,” she responds as she looks over the case. For going through all the effort to steal Nathan’s ability, they were pretty low tech on the actual ‘robbery’ part.

There’s a headache starting to form behind her eyes and with an annoyed huff she pinches the bridge of her nose to try and ward it off.

But the headache spreads far faster than it has any right too, until she realizes it’s not a headache.

It flares through her whole body, fiery and far more painful than anything else she’s ever experienced. A scream leaves her as she thinks she falls to the floor—hard to focus on anything but the pain.

Nathan’s speaking to her, but she can’t understand him, or respond.

Soon the pain becomes too much and she blacks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUNNNN!!!!!
> 
> FK's first cliffhanger. I'm evil I know.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you all noticed I made a significant addition to the info box. While I still have the last few chapters to write I am getting towards the end, and once I reach that point you'll all definitely know, because I'll start posting twice a week on the regular.
> 
> Also hopefully this chapter more than makes up for last week's cliffhanger.

Audrey comes back into consciousness slowly, her mind resisting at first because her body hurts, _everywhere_. But her stubbornness wins out and she finds herself becoming more aware of hospital sounds and smells, before she groggily opens her eyes.

Someone had already propped the bed up so the first thing she sees is the nondescript art on the wall instead of the ceiling. Her ears pick up the sounds of someone next to her, but when she tries to turn her head to see who it is pain flares up again. Killing two birds with one stone she groans.

Duke’s head enters her line of vision, concern clear on his face. “Hey,” briefly a wan smile crosses his face. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”

She tries to laugh, but it comes out a cough; either way it hurts and she bites back a whimper.

An unhappy expression crosses Duke’s face, “you want anything? Water? Something for the pain?” He picks up and waves the little ‘medicate’ button. She’s sure it would help, but now that she’s conscious again she doesn’t want to feel any sort of impairment.

“Water,” she croaks out, her throat feeling raw. At least speaking doesn’t hurt as much as she thought it would.

He vanishes, soon to return with a cup and straw. Just like everything else it hurts to swallow, but she doesn’t give a damn, more relieved at how better she feels afterwards. “What happened?” Still a croak, but not as bad.

For a moment the sounds of Duke shifting in his seat fill the room, and then warmth creeps up her arm, glancing down she sees he’s resting his hand on her arm—like with Nathan yesterday. “Well Nathan said you collapsed in the museum last night,” part of her is relieved she’s lost less time than she feared. “But you were somehow still screaming. I, I could hear it all the way at the _Rouge_.” His grip tightens, and she finds her heart aching.

“I ran to the hospital, just in time to met Nathan bringing you in. The docs knocked you out with the good stuff and ran tests. All of which turned up absolutely nothing.” Which clearly displeases him.

“Where’s Nathan?” She would have thought he wouldn’t have left her side given the choice. Unless Duke forced him to go home for a few hours or something.

“Ah,” again Duke shifts around, and she wishes she could just turn her damn head without it hurting, because seeing his face would be really good right about now. “He got thrown out for a day. It is kind of my fault though,” well he certainly _sounds_ embarrassed, she still wants to see it.

Still that explanation doesn’t exactly make her happy. “Get up here and explain.” She’s not afraid to play the ‘I’m in the hospital, so do what I damn well say’ card if he refuses.

Lucky her he doesn’t, although it involves her biting back a few more sounds of pain as Duke shifts her over slightly so he can lie next to her and probably not freak out the nurses—she could just imagine the wide eyed surprise if Duke had just climbed up and straddled her like she thought he would. She finds she likes this position better however.

The warmth of him has the added bonus of relaxing her too, it doesn’t help with the pain as much as she’d like, but it’s enough that she manages to turn her damn head. His own is a little below her’s, his cheek resting on her shoulder.

“Well they’d knocked you out and were running the first few tests, and well…” she didn’t know Duke could get flustered. “I sort of lost my temper and started chewing out Nathan for not looking after you better.” At her flat look of annoyance he huffs. “Yeah, yeah, when you’re better you can chew _me_ out for that. Anyways, shouting turned into something more physical and soon we had Dwight and the chief pulling us apart.

“The staff wanted us both out, but even if we weren’t happy with each other neither of us wanted to leave you alone. And so the chief sent Nathan home for the day because he freaking _bit_ me,” Duke grimaces. “I mean all I did was give him a hell of a black eye. But the nurses still give me the stink eye when they come to check up on you.”

“Shortsighted,” she chides him. “Both of you.”

Duke sighs. “Yeah, but Nathan takes the cake since he apparently thought it was a great idea to get into a fight when he can’t heal.”

“What?” It comes out more pained than shocked, mostly because Duke’s words cause her to recoil, which, of course, sends her into more pain than she’s happy with. A few minutes later the world goes a bit fuzzy around the edges and she realizes Duke must have dosed her, sure she feels better but she’s not exactly happy about it. “Asshole.”

“Completely,” Duke agrees, unrepentant. “But yeah, whoever stole Nathan’s powers got the healing thing too. His shiner should have cleared up by the time the chief was done giving him a dressing down, but he still had it when he left.” Duke shifts slightly. “And I know you probably won’t like it but wow, it was kind of great to have him actually _react_ to the hits I landed.”

Audrey finds herself doubly glad she insisted on Nathan not moving after he’d dropped his glass then, and Duke’s right she’s not really happy to hear that, because she finds the tinge longing in Duke’s voice slightly messed up. It also makes her ache in ways that she doesn’t completely understand. She wants them to be _safe_ , not tearing into each other like drunks.

She sighs, and wishes she could actually poke Duke instead of just lying here caught between pain and numbness. “Call Nathan Duke, tell him to get over here.” What the chief said, and the staff think, be damned. “And go home for a few hours, please.” It’s not exactly fair to Duke she realizes, but it’s how she feels right now. “You can come back and fuss over me later, bring me real food,” she concedes, an olive branch.

Even with that she can tell her words hurt him. He pulls away from her stiffly, nodding. “Yeah, okay.” Part of her wants to start crying at how distant he sounds, the rest of her just can’t deal with anything right now, let alone Duke and Nathan’s emotional baggage—and why should she have to deal with it anyways?

Still her eyes follow Duke as he leaves the room, she lets herself blink back tears before wondering if the stuff the doctors have her on will numb emotional pain too.

-

Duke tinkers, because it’s damn better than getting himself fucked up in some fashion; it’s probably a good thing though that the machinery he’s working on is irreparable anyways, because he’s not fucking fixing it that’s for sure.

“Duke?” Duke’s not exactly looking for company, least of all Ian Haskell’s, but fine, he’ll deal.

At least when he looks up it’s to see the other man standing on the slip and not having already boarded the _Rouge_. “What Ian?” He has a good idea of what the man wants, Ian’s not exactly someone Duke would consider a friend, and it’s not exactly welcome.

Ian’s expression turns nervous. “I was just wonderin’, I was hopin’ you could get me to Canada.” And there it is. “I got the cash, I can pay ya.” Well at least Ian’s not lying about that if his heartbeat’s anything to go by. “Lots of cash even, I got something big. But I gotta get out of town.”

Great, just great. Part of him wants to refuse outright, Audrey’s been _hurt_ and Nathan’s not himself right now; except neither of them want to see him apparently, if Audrey’s words and Nathan’s actions last night are anything to go by. So maybe getting out of town for a few hours at the very least would be a good idea. To get some of that distance he’d been yearning for a few months ago.

Still… “Go bug Harry about it Ian, I’m not taking on business right now.” The urge to watch and protect outweighing the need for money or physical space—especially with the old school house having mysteriously burned to the ground last night. And Audrey told him to come back at dinner, _and_ that he could fuss, so he’s damn well not leaving tonight.

“He don’t got your Coast Guard contacts Duke,” Ian whines, and for a brief second Duke entertains the idea of mauling him. “Come on, it’s nothing dangerous I swear.”

Duke pinches the bridge of his nose—he doesn’t get headaches but right now it feels like one might just start—certain that Ian’s not going to leave him alone until he agrees; and unfortunately Haven at large frowns upon supernaturals mauling normal people. “Fine,” he grits out. “But _tomorrow_. I need to fuel up and get supplies first.” A complete and utter lie, but he can’t take Ian out right now, not with the promise of dinner later.

Ian looks like he’s about to protest for all of about a second before he sighs. “Fine, tomorrow.” And glory be he leaves.

Duke gives up on tinkering and pulls out his phone. _What’s Audrey’s favorite food?_ He texts to Nathan, Duke isn’t above bribery at this point, he just hopes Nathan actually answers.

A minute later his phone buzzes, and it is from Nathan—so at least he’s willing to communicate— _shepard’s pie._

Good, something that will take a while.

-

Nathan sits in the chair next to Parker’s bed, the TV’s on—mindless cartoons, or at least as mindless as Bugs Bunny gets—but she’s watching it listlessly. It hurts to see her like this, in a hospital, mysteriously unwell.

When he’d first gotten here she’d grilled him on what happened, he’s just glad that she can talk, including his fight with Duke—his black eye is a dull throb of pain, but it’s an amazing dull throb—then she’d fallen silent, eyes seemingly focused on the TV; at least she’d answered his, well Duke’s, question about food.

He does feel sort of bad for biting Duke, it had just sort of _happened_ , but it’s not his fault for finishing the fight, well as finished as fights between them got at least.

And at least the silence lets him process better, less to worry about as his brain keeps focusing on the feel of his clothes, or the wood under his fingertips, or how his feet are kind of warm; it’s still disconcerting, and he finds he sort of misses his usual numb life. How do people deal with this every day?

Doctor Smith comes in and begins asking Parker questions. Since she’s apparently not a good sick person—Nathan’s the same—her responses are biting. Smith’s as unruffled as ever.

“Well we want to keep you overnight again just to make sure, but it seems that whatever caused your acute pain wasn’t physical or mental. Have you encountered any supernatural objects or persons recently?”

The question catches Parker off guard, did she expect Haven’s doctors to be ignorant? “I...don’t think so?”

Smith looks at Nathan who shakes his head. “It happened at the Fisheries Museum, no one there but us and the guard, and the museum’s harmless.” Thankfully, a lot harder to keep people away when it’s supposed to be a ‘major’ tourist attraction.

“Alright,” Smith nods. “Well a nurse will come in soon to bring you lunch Miss Parker.” He leaves.

“Great,” Parker heaves as her attention falls on the TV again. He know’s he’s not the best conversationalist but he’d hope she’d want to talk to him at least a _little_ , it was why she asked him here wasn’t it?

For about five minutes there’s silence. Then, “there are people who cause pain?”

Nathan can actually feel his lips trying to tick up into a smile and manages to keep it down. “Not many, it’s not the best power to have from what I’ve been told. There is a woman who’s touch inflicts pain whether she wants to or not, some sort of family curse.” He shrugs. “The lack of human contact...gets to them after a while. It’s not good.” He tries to go visit Jordan from time to time, to at least give her _something_ , but he wouldn’t say the two of them get along, at least not since she was twelve; on the other hand she’s stubborn enough that she doesn’t want to follow in her father’s footsteps.

“Huh,” it’s not hard to miss that she hasn’t even looked at him while they’re talking. It hurts, and makes him want to reach out and turn her head, but while he knows he _can_ touch her, from time to time, he’s not sure she wants it right now.

At least he gets a distraction from the door opening again, “I come bearing gifts.” Claire’s voice fills the room, in her arms is a teddy bear with a ‘get well soon’ heart in it’s paws.

Parker frowns at it as Claire plops it in her lap, again Nathan finds himself fighting off a smile. “And,” Claire pulls out a bag of caramels from Benjy’s. “Sea salt.” She gives the bag a wiggle before handing it over. “Better than chocolate if you ask me.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Parker seems torn between being polite and being, well her current self. In a way it’s sort of nice to see Parker at her not best; even if he wishes the situation had never happened at all. Not that he knows _what_ happened.

Claire takes it in therapist stride. “Not a problem, although I’m pretty sure you’re going to get more well wishers soon.” Audrey tenses at that. “Thought I might as well try to be the first and warn you.” Instead of touching Audrey she pats the bear’s head. “Although, I’ve got to say Audrey,” there’s a smile on Claire’s lips. “If you’d wanted to not meet with me today you could have just said so, no reason to send yourself to the hospital.”

“Don’t,” Nathan finds himself hurting in sympathy as he watches Parker try not to laugh. “Make me laugh, hurts too much.”

“Oh,” Claire looks sort of embarrassed. “Um, do you need anything?”

Parker’s eyes narrow, clearly weighing the pros and cons. “Clothes,” she finally gets out. “Something to _do_.” Ah, that’s probably what’s bothering Audrey the most.

“Do my best.” Claire glances at Nathan and tilts her head. He nods.

“You want me to head everyone else off Parker?” It’s the least he can do right now.

Her shoulders slump. “God yes.”

He gets up and follows Claire out.

“Are _you_ okay?”

His hair feels coarse as he runs a hand through it, he has no idea if that’s good or not. “I’m dealing. More worried about Parker right now. If you stop by the station and tell the chief I sent you he should let you at least go through her desk and pick up some of her cases, I don’t know if Duke’s at the Gull or not.”

Claire shrugs. “I’ll manage I’m sure. You’re not looking all that good.” Her eyebrow raises, her gaze briefly on his black eye.

“Duke and I got into a fight, I bit him, he punched me.” When he says it like that it is sort of childish. “And whoever stole my stuff took my healing too.” But yeah, he’s dealing.

She probably knows it’s not a good idea to touch him, with Parker and Duke he can deal because he’s used to it, but others...he’s not sure he can; so she nods instead. “Alright, well I’m here to talk if you want to, and I’ll get her what she asked for. Do _you_ want anything?”

He appreciates her asking. “Something to eat maybe,” he’s not hungry, but he’s sure he will be soon.

“Alright,” she smiles. “Maybe I should set up a side business, Claire’s delivery service.”

This time he lets the smile crack his face. “See you soon.”

“Yep,” she waves as she heads down the hall, passing Stan, who’s carrying a bouquet of flowers.

The man at least looks abashed. “Everyone chipped in.”

Nathan rolls his eyes. “They forgot she doesn’t like flowers.”

“Yeah,” Stan shrugs. “Want me to just take them away? I’m sure Lacey will love them.” Yes, he’s sure his wife will.

“Go right ahead.” Nathan reaches out, savoring the brush of petals against his fingertips, and snatches the card at least. He’s sure Stan would have noticed, but he might as well take it now. “See you later.”

“Thanks,” Stan nods and leaves.

With a sigh Nathan leans against the wall by the door and braces himself for a long few hours.

-

Audrey feels almost human in her own clothes, even if they were ratty Boston U sweatpants and a tank top, they’re still _hers_ and not the scratchy hosptial gown. She should probably get Claire and Kat something to thank them for doing that for her—especially for helping her get dressed in the first place. But right now, even with the aching finally starting to fade, all Audrey wants to be is selfish and bratty.

A good patient she has never been—but were those other times even real? James might not have said it outright, but considering she has memories of a childhood, yet she’s been thirty-something for _decades_ ; well it’s hard not to think if her memories are even _real_ or not.

Which isn’t exactly helping her mood.

The TV’s still on, but she stopped paying attention to it long ago, and her paperwork, such as it is, lies half done around her. Outside she can hear Nathan and someone else, another well wisher being turned away—the accumulated mass on the bedside table speaks to how much she’s already a part of Haven at the very least. She finds herself both grateful and guilty about Nathan.

To be fair Audrey has been about as pleasant with Nathan as she had been with Duke—if with less talking—but unlike with Duke she knows Nathan will just accept it. And she knows it’s cruel of her to use him like that and maybe she’ll feel horrible about it once she’s back on her feet, but right now she doesn’t give a flying fuck.

But even in her mind at the moment that lie feels off, because she _does_ give a fuck, she knows she should apologize, but she’s also not sure if she’s capable of it at the moment.

Her stomach grumbles, reminding her that dinner, and Duke, are fast approaching. Which adds more guilt to her plate and leaves her feeling almost nauseous.

Honestly it feels like she’s been sent to the hospital at the worst fucking time, what with her ârsgång, and all of the discoveries therein, having been only a few days ago and how...delicate things with Duke and Nathan have been feeling.

Even now she finds she wants to tell them what she feels, but she also wonders if it’s still too soon. And while she knows Duke has feelings for Nathan, she has no idea if the reverse is true. It’s a tangle and she’s not feeling up to dealing with it right now. With a sigh she picks up one of her files again—little items have been going missing at the Freddie over the past two weeks only to turn up in odd places, neither she nor Nathan are sure if it’s supernatural or an odd pickpocket—but has a good idea that it won’t be enough.

Again there’s voices outside her door, except this time the door opens and Duke enters, arms full with a cooler, Nathan trailing after him. “Dinner is now served,” there’s a smile lurking around the edges of Duke’s mouth, but she wishes it were a full one.

But she watches as he sets the cooler on the chair and opens it, her mouth watering as smells begin wafting from it. “We’ve got beet salad, shepherd’s pie, some apple cider to drink, and for dessert creme brule.” Even Nathan looks a little agog at the amount of food Duke’s brought.

Duke glances at the both of them and rolls his eyes. “Well? Clear some space this food isn’t going to eat itself.”

Since Audrey still can’t do much movement without flares of pain she lets Nathan collect her files and stack them neatly on the table, while Duke begins setting the plates of food on her bed for lack of a table.

“It looks delicious,” she manages to say, and even means it. She hates how it grates to be nice right now, every part of her just wanting to curl up and lick her wounds alone. But she also promised this to Duke.

“Good,” Duke says with a nod, making a plate for her and handing it over before doing the same for Nathan.

Who’s face scrunches up like he’s not expecting it, but accepts it anyways. “Thanks,” he sits on the floor and begins eating.

Audrey follows suit as she watches Duke settle next to Nathan and begin eating himself, and as much as she hates making nice she hates how tense and silent things are right now even more. Because this isn’t want she wants at all, she wants their conversation and at least friendship again.

The excellent food helps sooth some of her mindless anger at least, making her feel a little more like herself. So about halfway through her food she decides to bite the bullet and looks at the both of them, focused seemingly completely on their food and nothing else.

“Hey,” almost instantly they both stop eating and look up at her—which just proves how wrong their appearance had been. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch to the both of you. I’m...just not a very nice sick person, but I shouldn’t have lashed out at both of you like I have.” Now she’s the one staring at her food, all her courage having just been used up.

Tensely she waits for _some_ sort of response, her every sense feeling hyper aware. So she easily hears the both of them get up and walk to her bedside. Nearly in sync they reach out and touch her arms, Nathan’s paler hand on her left and Duke’s on her right. “It’s alright,” Nathan speaks first, “honestly I’m not the best patient either, so I get it.”

“I forgive you,” Duke finally says. “But I still don’t like that it happened Audrey, we’re your... _friends_ ,” his brief pause doesn’t escape her notice. “Walling us out like that doesn’t do anyone good.” There’s a beat of silence before he continues, “now finish eating.” Well she did say he could fuss.

Both of them move their hands so she can eat, but Nathan stays nearby while Duke begins cleaning up. And as she scoops up the last bit of her shepherd’s pie—which really is amazing—the door bursts open and Vince and Dave nearly tumble in. It takes her a few moments to realize the expression on Vince’s face is _anger,_ but at what?

“How are you feeling Audrey?” Dave asks in a bit of a rush, and with her already knowing that they’re hiding something it makes her suspicious.

“Better,” she answers honestly, grateful that Nathan’s moved a little closer and Duke’s tensed to move.

Dave looks relieved, but Vince still seems...unhappy about something. “We think we know why someone stole the puzzle board…” And from there they launch into the board’s history, and how, upon realizing how dangerous it was the pieces were scattered.

“And should have stayed that way,” Vince grumbles. Is _that_ what he’s unhappy about? “I’ve reached out to the museums that had the pieces,” _of course_ he knows where they are. “And they’ve all been robbed in the past few days.” He makes a face. “Whoever did it had to have had help, none of the museums had the pieces on display.”

“So wait,” Duke looks just as unhappy as Vince, if for different reasons. “You’re saying that if someone puts the puzzle back together…”

“Losing our historic buildings will be the least of our worries.” Vince finishes grimly.

While Audrey’s certain that’s not all of it, it’s certainly enough to anger her. How _dare_ someone try to destroy _her_ town, she’d kill them before they had the chance. But her hands flare in pain as she grips her bedsheet tightly, reminding her of just how useless she still is; which only stokes her anger more.

Somehow, even though she isn’t looking at them, she knows Nathan and Duke share a look. Nathan taking a step towards Vince and Dave. “Well thanks for letting us know. If you find out anything more give me a call.” With ease he ushers them out of the room and then locks the door.

Even before the door’s shut all the way Duke’s at her side, his hand on her arm again his other brushing some hair out of her face. “Audrey?” At least now his worry doesn’t feel cloying, then again her anger has a focus now.

“I’m fine,” she says, exhaling through her teeth. She forces her hands to relax, which causes about as much pain, Nathan picks one up and begins massaging it—it feels very nice. “I’m just...I want to find the bastard who thought they could hurt me like that.” She feels her eyes widen in surprise at her own words, the idea of them catching her off guard.

At least she’s not the only one. Again, Duke and Nathan share a glance, if a slightly more wary one. “What do you mean Audrey?” Nathan asks.

She so very badly wants to curl up. “I...I don’t know Nathan, Something...in me is just... _certain_ that that building being destroyed is the reason I’m in pain.” But _how_? And _why?_ It just doesn’t make any sense, how could a building burning down _hurt_ her? “When did I collapse Nathan?”

“Around ten twenty-two,” surprised horror crosses his face. “Which is about when the fire department started getting calls.” Christ, she didn’t want to be right.

At least they’re not the only ones, on her other side Duke _growls_ , the sound making her shiver—only a tiny bit out of terror she finds. “A quick death’s too good for them.”

The part of her that’s a cop is appalled by Duke’s words, the rest of her...finds it comforting. Slowly she moves her free hand so it’s touching Duke. “I need to get out of the hospital first.” She doesn’t doubt if she insists the doc’ll let her check out now. But Audrey knows it would be a pointless gesture.

He turns to her, and she sees flecks of silver in his eyes. “You’re right.” He finally seems to notice that Nathan’s massaging her hand, well he’s moved on slightly towards her wrist really. “You sure that’s a good idea? You can’t exactly tell if it’s doing any good or not.”

She and Nathan both pause for a moment, Audrey realizing that Nathan’s clearly never told Duke that he can feel her. Briefly she glances at him, trying to find out if he wants that secret told or not; the response she gets is confused and ambivalent. So she decides to take the plunge. “It’s okay Duke, Nathan, Nathan can feel me. Even when he’s his usual self.” It surprises her Duke forgot that Nathan’s ‘normal’ right now.

Brief silence from Duke before he gives a bitter laugh and collapses into the chair, “of course. No wonder you’re so gung ho about her.” The smile on Duke’s lips is almost cruel and it breaks her heart.

Nathan tenses, his hands stopping in their movements again. “She’s...she’s not the only person I can feel.”

His words surprise Audrey but Duke shakes his head. “Yeah, I know. I forgot someone stole your mojo.”

“No,” a brief look of frustration crosses Nathan’s face before he lets got of her hand and turns around. “I mean even when I’ve got my ‘mojo’ Audrey isn’t the only person I can feel. I, I can feel you too Duke.”

In the ensuing silence the machines hooked up to her sound abnormally loud.

Seemingly in a flash Duke’s upright. “What?” He sounds disbelieving. “Christ, Buddha,” he shakes his head. “Why the fuck didn’t you say anything Nathan?” There’s anger creeping into his voice at the end.

Audrey wonders if she should be witnessing this, Nathan and Duke have far more history together than she does with either of them and it feels strange to be on the outside.

“I, I was afraid. I thought if you knew you’d use it against me.” She wishes she could see Nathan’s face.

“When the fuck have I ever done something like that Nathan?” Duke steps closer to Nathan, and Audrey _swears_ she can feel the air crackle. “Do you really have such little faith in me?” On the whole Audrey finds she’s not sure how she feels about all of this, but a part of her is relieved it’s all coming out into the open.

Even with his back to her she can see Nathan’s shoulder slump. “You’re right.” He takes a small step back so that he’s leaning against her bed. “I’m not sure sorry’s enough, but it’s all I’ve got.”

Duke sighs, a strange expression crossing his face. But Audrey finds herself unsurprised when Duke bridges the small gap between himself and Nathan and kisses the other man.

Nathan makes a sort of strangled noise, but before Audrey can even blink he’s returning the kiss. And okay, Audrey can definitely see the appeal. It’s definitely something else to watch. Still she’s certain they’ve got other things to talk about, or at least she does. With as much pointedness as she can muster she clears her throat.

The two of them snap apart instantly, they both look abashed and Nathan’s very much blushing. “Sorry,” he says, ducking his head slightly.

“Oh I didn’t mind at all,” she tells him, enjoying his shocked expression. “I mean I guess I never really thought about you and Duke, but well I certainly will now.”

Nathan’s blush grows and Duke’s smile is well... _wolfish_.

“I’m just pretty sure we’ve got more to talk about before we can do anything fun like making out.” To be fair she’s pretty certain she wouldn’t find it fun herself right now, she at least knows she enjoys _moving_ while she’s making out and that’s hard for her to do right now.

“But, you don’t, I thought you liked me?” Nathan sounds almost plaintive.

Audrey finds herself biting back a smile. “Oh I do Nathan,” mustering up the strength she reaches a hand out and brushes her fingers against his arm, enjoying the way it twitches slightly at the touch, even now that he can feel everything. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like Duke as well,” she glances at Duke to find him looking intently at the both of them. “I, I’ve been wanting to say it for a while, but then the ârsgång happened. And well, I didn’t want either of you to feel obligated to me.”

“I thought that was my line,” Nathan responds a moment later. Duke sniggers.

“Yes,” Audrey rolls her eyes. “But that was before we found out I’ve carried both your children.” Saying it out loud like that sounds weird to her ears, like it’s not quite real. “Kids tend to change things,” more than having sex did at least.

There’s a moment of silence, then Duke speaks. “Generally I would agree, but it could be argued that our ‘kids’ are adults now, we don’t have to ‘play nice’ if we didn’t want to.” His head falls into his hands. “That’s still so weird to think about.”

-

Duke’s one to talk, Nathan thinks. And his words feel like understatement anyways. In her bed Audrey looks both thoughtful and expectant, and he has to wonder what else she’s waiting for.

Finally she arches an eyebrow and her eyes dart between the two of them. “Well? Do you both have things you’d like to share with the class?” Duke snorts in amusement and Audrey rolls her eyes at him.

“Well,” Duke leans back. “If we’re laying our cards out on the table I’ve got to say you both kind of suck at being detectives.” Nathan lets himself feel a moment of anger as Duke continues. “Because I haven’t exactly been subtle with my...gestures of affection.”

Nathan blinks, “what?” He understands the words, but nothing else really.

Duke’s on his feet in a second. “Oh come on Nathan, I feed you food I made myself, I fuss, something you both seemed to pick up just fine yesterday, I roughhouse with you. Hell the first few months I came back into Haven for the first time all I did was flirt with you. And kissing’s about as unsubtle as you can get really.”

Agog Nathan lets himself gape, his mind goes back to those strange months after they’d met for the first time, and huh, “I didn’t realize.” Nathan can feel a flush creeping up his neck and his ears are heating up as well.

“Yeah, I got that real quick, and then I met Maggie,” Duke shrugs. “After that you didn’t seem all that intent to make friendly with me, let alone be anything else.”

Nathan wonders if he should be apologizing or not. But before he can Audrey speaks. “Oh my God, you’ve been werewolf flirting with us.” Which sounds ridiculous, but it makes Duke blush—which is...intriguing—and alright, if Nathan thinks about it in that context a whole lot of things make more sense. “Wait, does that mean scent marking’s actually a thing?” Nathan has a pretty good idea of what that is, but isn’t sure how it relates to werewolves.

“Not really,” Duke takes a step closer. “It’s not like there are hundreds of other werewolves,” another shrug. “Just me and my brother. And I doubt he’d be interested in either of you.” Nathan doesn’t exactly care.

“But scents mix right?” Nathan’s never really thought about it, sure his nose is good, but he’s not the sort to think about smells in a ‘relationship’ context; it’s strange just thinking about it really.

Duke’s flush grows. “Yeah,” his voice comes out lower than normal and Nathan finds that it shudders in his spine, makes his knees feel a little weak. It’s, well, it’s a little embarrassing to think about. But possibly in a good way, his thoughts about Duke have always been in the abstract, but now that there’s a chance of things developing between them Nathan finds he’s almost hungry for the experience. To know how things would be different, what Duke might do to him.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Audrey pat her bed. “Come on, cuddling then.” She gives a thinking frown. “Does that count as fussing?”

A laugh escapes Duke. “I think fussing is whatever I want it to be,” which possibly doesn’t bode well for Audrey. “But you haven’t had dessert yet,” even Nathan’s not sure if that’s supposed to be a protest or not.

“Dessert later,” Audrey says. “You too Nathan, then you can share.”

Right, he takes a deep breath. “I don’t think we can all fit,” that bed’s a full at most, meaning three people will not be comfortable in it.

“Who cares?” Audrey says lightly, “pretty sure that’s half the fun really.” Again she pats the bed. “Come on then.”

-

It does take some work, but in the end they do all fit, mostly, and Duke feels like he could fly to the moon.

He and Nathan are on either side of Audrey, which seemed best for now. And Duke may or may not have his nose practically buried in Audrey’s hair. She does smell a bit dirtier than usual, what with not having showered recently, but that hardly matters. One of his hands is nearly touching Nathan, but he’s holding back; because while he may have laid himself bare and not been completely turned away he still has no idea what Nathan’s thinking.

Silence falls upon them and for about a minute Duke wonders if Nathan’s going to even speak at all. But from the way Nathan’s brows draw in he might do it sooner than Duke thinks.

“This,” Nathan shifts, and for a second Duke thinks he might fall of the side of the bed. “I’m not exactly good at this sort of thing.”

Audrey’s free hand, Duke’s not ashamed to admit he got her to put her other one in his hair, reaches out and laces with one of Nathan’s, fingers interlocking. “I’m not exactly the best either, I mean I wasn’t very smooth.”

Duke snorts. “I don’t know, it sounded pretty good to me,” he grins at her; but to be fair Audrey speaking in general always sounded good. He couldn’t wait to find out what she sounded like during sex. Shit, that probably wasn’t the best idea right now…

If Audrey notices though she doesn’t say anything, just rolls her eyes. Nathan huffs at least, and doesn’t look as tense as before. “Well,” Nathan drawls, a hint of a smile on his face. “I guess it’s easy to say I like you Parker,” he leans in and kisses her cheek.

Fairly chaste in terms of gestures of affection, Duke finds he actually wants to see them _kiss_.

“Mmm,” Audrey closes her eyes for a second. “Good to hear you say it.” Nathan’s cheeks turn pink; Duke entertains the idea of whether or not he and Audrey could make Nathan do a full body blush.

Nathan’s expression turns serious as he looks to Duke however. “And, well, I’m not sure about you Duke,” Nathan puts a hand on his cheek, which stops him from responding quickly. “I’m pretty sure I consider you a friend, even with…” He drifts off, not that he needs to elaborate, Duke understands. “But...I’m, curious.”

Well, Duke’s worked with worse.


	19. Chapter 19

Nathan wakes up aching, and as he stretches he relishes the feel of his muscles relaxing.

Or at least he does for all of five seconds. Then he’s falling out of the bed, because it’s tiny and they’re crammed on as it is.

“Fuck, ow.” He rubs his shoulder, trying to ease the pain.

A second later two pairs of sleepy eyes are peering down at him, both clearly torn between concern and amusement. “You alright there Wuornos?” There’s a smile tugging at Parker’s lips, and Nathan can’t really find it in him to be angry.

He stands and leans in to kiss her, stars above but it’s amazing. “Yeah,” he says as he pulls away. “I’ll be fine. Just forgot where I was there.” Bound to happen sometime really, and at least this was relatively harmless.

“It taking some time to adjust to being normal?” Duke teases, and Nathan knows it’s a tease. It is a little strange to realize he can read Duke better now than he could before; who knew all it would take was Duke explaining himself.

Nathan rolls his eyes and flips Duke off. Not that Duke really notices, what with him nuzzling Parker and tugging her over for his own morning kiss.

It’s...odd to watch, but in a good way. And Nathan actually finds himself more interested than he thought he would be; the little sounds Audrey makes creating sparks of arousal in him. He shifts almost uncomfortably, trying to be as casual as possible about his growing hard on. Nathan’s never thought of himself as having voyeuristic tendencies, but to be fair he hasn’t exactly ever been in a position to even contemplate the idea.

When they break apart Parker makes a face. “Yech, morning breath the both of you.”

Duke sniggers. “I don’t even care.” His smile is dopey and Nathan finds he kind of agrees.

“Well,” Nathan heaves a put upon sigh—if very exaggerated—“I guess since I’m up do either of you want anything?”

Parker gives him a fond smile. “Breakfast? Coffee?”

Nathan’s own stomach rumbles at the suggestion of food. Pancakes do sound kind of wonderful right now.

“There’s still the creme brulee from last night,” Duke reminds. “But I wouldn’t say no to more food or coffee.”

A phone buzzes and all three of them move to check their respective cells. Nathan’s got nothing, but from Duke’s annoyed sigh it’s easy to tell whose it was.

“What is it?” Parker asks, and Nathan’s pleased to note that she seems to be moving around without much pain.

“Just a reminder of some work I’ve got to do in a few hours,” Duke doesn’t exactly sound happy about it. “But I can at least stay until the docs check you out.” Nathan has to sort of wonder if by this point Duke’s sort of fused to Parker—the idea’s at least more amusing than displeasing.

Parker pouts, but he thinks it might be more fake than actually hurt. “I see how it is. Fine,” she sniffs. “Feed me your delicious food and leave.”

Duke rolls his eyes, and if the rest of Nathan’s mornings start similar to this from now on, well he doesn’t think he’ll complain.

-

Duke tries to make a go at cleaning up the deck of the _Rouge_ , his angry dismantling from yesterday leaving all sorts of stepping hazards just waiting to cause pain. What if Nathan’s no-touch comes back all of the sudden? It’s not like the other man’s the best at looking where he’s going sometimes.

He’s about halfway done when he hears Ian’s voice. “I’m ready to go Duke.” Looking up he sees that Ian’s already started to board, seemingly unconcerned with angering Duke.

Biting his tongue to keep from snapping, he agreed to this, he’s got no right to complain, he watches as Ian makes his way towards the chair’s Duke’s got set up, right through where Duke has yet to clean up. “Hey, watch…” He drifts off as he sees Ian step heedlessly on a screw, then keep walking.

Duke can smell the blood before he even sees it, yet Ian seems to feel nothing.

Ian turns his head slightly. “What’s that Duke?”

He shakes his head, forcing an easy smile onto his face. “Nothing, just give me a few minutes to finish getting the _Rouge_ started and we can head out.” Not that Duke has any intention of that now, not with his current suspicions.

“The sooner the better,” Ian says and sits down.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes Duke makes his way to the wheelhouse, it only takes him a few seconds to readjust his radio to the police band. “Hey Laverne?”

“Duke,” Laverne’s voice is as friendly as ever. “The Chief better not catch you on here.”

“I’ll only be on for a second,” he promises. “Just wanted you to get a hold of Audrey and Nathan and tell them I’ve got our little thief on the _Rouge_. They’d better get here quick.” He doesn’t wait for her affirmative before switching back to the harbor’s channel.

They’d better get here quick because otherwise he’ll kill Ian himself, even if Audrey’s the one who deserves to do it.

-

Audrey feels her blood pounding in her ears as she and Nathan race towards the dock. He brings the Bronco to a squealing halt, and she’s out the door before he’s even turned the engine off. Gun in hand she runs to the _Rouge_.

Only to find there’s already a stand off.

Duke’s on one side, teeth barred and looking like he might jump across the space between him and the man who’s got Jackie hostage; his gun is currently trained on Duke. In between them is Bryan, looking torn.

“Haven PD,” her tone might be even, but she’s certain no one would call it _calm_. “Nobody move.”

Of course the man with the gun _does_ move, but she can’t get a clear enough shot to nail him, not turning the gun on her, but on Jackie instead. “No,” he sounds desperate, which is the worst possible outcome. “Crocker’s takin’ me out of this place and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”

She flicks her gaze to Duke, and he twitches his hand. While she’s not one hundred percent certain what it is, she’s got a pretty good idea that it’s a ‘no’. “We know you’ve got the puzzle and the pieces.”

“So?” The man laughs. “I ain’t going back to being a nobody anymore. He promised me that this would get me on the board. The Haskells won’t be bit players on the supernatural stage anymore.” His words seem to surprise everyone, she’d only thought him a human with a supernatural object, not supernatural himself.

But he does confirm Vince’s insistence that he wasn’t working alone, she wants to know more about this ‘he’, but right now she needs to focus on the important stuff.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees a flicker of movement, sparing it the briefest of glances she sees Nathan’s up by the wheelhouse, his gun aimed at Haskell’s back. Good, now to get Jackie away.

She risks taking a step closer, the problem is that Haskell’s surrounded by so many enemies that he doesn’t know where to focus his attention, so her step completely passes him by. “Come on now,” she attempts to use her soothing voice, the one she uses on all the other supernatural she’s helped, not that she wants to help this man. “We can get this figured out. No one needs to get hurt.”

“Hurt?” Haskell laughs. “You can’t hurt me, took that cop’s powers. Nothin’ can hurt me anymore.” Well it’s good to know he’s the one responsible for stealing powers, not that it’s much comfort right now.

Still, while he might assert that nothing can hurt him, she’s pretty sure a shot will still incapacitate him long enough; and she’s definitely sure that a shot through the heart of head will kill him just as well as anyone else. Now if only she or Nathan could _make_ a shot.

Another quick glance at Duke has her trying to convey that idea to him, he’s closest and has a good chance of getting Jackie out of the line of fire before Haskell even knows what’s happening, but she’s not sure how well she succeeds.

Well she succeeds, just not with the person she wants.

Bryan shouts and dives for Jackie and Haskell. Haskell, thank God, doesn’t shoot, but he does jerk Jackie away from him and Bryan’s lunging form.

Which gives her and Nathan just enough Haskell to shoot.

She can’t hear the sound of Nathan’s shot over her own, but from the way Haskell jerks twice they both shot him. Bryan yanks Jackie away and Haskell falls to the ground. Audrey’s not exactly sure where Nathan aimed, but her own shot got his shoulder, which shouldn’t kill him. Still she rushes over.

His shoulder’s bleeding, but so is his chest, tearing open his shirt she sees a neat through and through in his left lung; she puts aside her anger at Nathan for that at the moment, focus. “Who helped you?” She nearly snaps it out.

The smile he gives her is all blood and teeth.

Before she can try and ask again Nathan’s at their sides. Jackie in tow. Audrey finds herself frowning.

Even moreso when Nathan pulls out a pocket knife and jabs it into the back of Jackie’s hand. When blood begins to well up he swipes it off with his thumb and wipes it on Haskell’s bare skin.

Seconds later it fades, and so does Haskell.

Turning her head she opens her mouth to snap at Nathan, because what the fuck was that all about? But before she can she watches as he coaxes off the sunglasses Jackie’s wearing. She’s got her eyes squeezed shut, but soon they’re open too.

A few tense seconds pass, then Audrey realizes that Jackie’s powers are gone; no one here’s running away screaming like she’s their personal nightmare.

“What was that?” Audrey finally manages to speak.

Nathan doesn’t even look abashed as he lets Bryan sweep Jackie up into a hug. “Back at the bus depot Haskell probably took some of my blood, that’s why I was bleeding. His power must require some to be able to steal the power from someone else.” Which means that when Nathan did what he did he got his own abilities back, good and bad.

“Careless of you,” Duke’s next to Nathan now and glaring at him. “I would have thought you’d keep him alive at least to question him.” Audrey herself definitely would have liked that.

But Nathan meets Duke glare steadily. “He hurt Audrey.”

“That’s no excuse Nathan,” she tells him. “Now we won’t be able to find out who was helping him.” Unless there’s some helpful clue in Haskell’s pockets—but that only ever happens in the movies.

Still she turns her attention back to his corpse. Then blinks. “Hey guys.”

Duke and Nathan focus on her. While her own eyes try to make sense of what she’s seeing. “What is is Parker?” Nathan asks.

“There’s a handprint on his chest.” It’s black like a tattoo, half covered in blood and there’s something about it that seems familiar to her.

“Audrey,” Duke sounds confused, but at least he doesn’t seem to _dis_ believe her. “We don’t see anything there.”

-

In a hole in the wall bar in Halifax, William sits beer in hand and sighs.

He’d hope that would work out better than it had, it hadn’t been a _high_ hope granted, but still. Taking a pull from his beer he mulls over what to do next.

This _Haven_ is still closed off from him, but…

It’s the work of a thought to summon his box of aether, he notices with glum anger that he’s running low—his bitch of an aunt changed the way _again,_ paranoid bat—but he should have enough if he’s frugal.

He halves what he’s got, then splits that in half as well. Vanishing the box and the larger portion he takes one of the smaller ones and rolls it in his hands until it becomes pliant and regains some of its stickiness.

Shaping it takes time, but he can be patient for now. And soon enough he’s got two little human figures, an intelligent one and a brute. He breaks the skin of his thumb and anoints them both with blood, they shiver and gain a shell of humanity. Now to make them grow…

Finishing his beer he stands and walks to the bar, sorting through the angers and frustrations around him. Picking a likely target he saunters up and gestures at the bartender for another beer. “He’s the one you know.”

The man he aims this at blinks at him in bewilderment, clearly having been caught off guard. “What?”

William tries for a friendly smile and fights not to roll his eyes. “Him,” he gestures to another man across the bar. “He’s the one sleeping with your wife.” A lie of course, but it will cause such wonderful chaos, especially with William stoking the embers.

It takes a few seconds, but then anger ignites in the man like cesium in water.

The bartender hands William his beer and he nods in thanks, a satisfied smile dancing across his face as the men’s fight spreads.

Excellent.


	20. Chapter 20

Despite wanting to storm over there right away, Nathan finds himself listening to Audrey’s cautioning words. So instead they all truck back to the police station and he tries to content himself with taking statements and filling out paperwork—it _almost_ makes him regret killing Haskell, almost.

Right now he’s even angry enough over what Jackie told them that he can’t give the attention Parker’s handprint mystery needs.

He bites back a snarl as he nearly rips through the paper a third time.

“Nathan,” Parker’s voice sounds right next to his ear, and soon he feels her hand loosening his own and taking the pen from it. “Take a deep breath.” Her thumb rubs the back of his hand.

He does, not exactly liking it, but willing to listen to her. It doesn’t exactly help with the anger, but he still feels better. “I don’t like this.” He wants to strike while the iron’s hot, pour out all his anger on the one responsible.

Parker leans in and kisses his forehead, the action shocking him. “I know,” she gives a wan smile. “But you know it’ll be better to face them tomorrow. We go at them now and they’ll just clam up, which won’t do anyone any good. It’ll be better tomorrow.”

She’s right, but he doesn’t like it. Heaving a sigh he slumps back into his seat. “I still don’t like it.”

Her soft laugh is affectionate. “I know.” She kisses him again, this time on the lips; you’d think he’d get used to it, but he’s not sure he ever will. “Tomorrow,” she reminds sternly, before pulling away from him completely and returning to her own desk.

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.

-

Duke lets himself linger at the head of his slip, old—very old—habits telling him he shouldn’t be doing this, that it’s all well and good to _care_ about people, but getting involved with police business and possibly helping out a questioning? Even if the cause of it _did_ happen on his boat.

He tells that part of him to shut the fuck up, because these weren’t adults who could look after themselves, they’d been _kids_ who didn’t know any better and could have gotten killed because of that. This whole situation was sort of fucked up honestly, and the sooner it’s over the better he’ll feel.

It might be selfish of him but he wants to focus on his new relationship, relationships? And not possibly giving a talking to to a man who should know better.

A car horn jerks him from his train of thoughts and he looks up to see Audrey and Nathan waiting for him in the Bronco. They say good morning when he climbs in, but the atmosphere is tense, and it doesn’t surprise him when nothing is is said for the rest of the ride over. Audrey’s scent is sort of haywire and conflicted, while Nathan almost burns with ‘righteous’ anger, one Duke’s seen so often that he knows the signs.

It’s that strange time of day when most adults are off to work, while the kids still haven’t woken up yet to storm the streets—or at least they haven’t left their homes. Which means that the only people to see the three of them enter the Herald would be neighboring busybody shop owners, boredom turning them to gossip. All of Haven’ll know _something_ happened at the Herald before lunch Duke’s sure.

When they enter Dave smiles at them for all of a second, before noticing their expressions and shrinking slightly. “Something wrong?”

Across from him Vince looks indomitable, and Duke can see Nathan tense for the attack. But not before Audrey lays a warning hand on his shoulder. It doesn’t surprise him that her touch calms Nathan, he’d certainly seen Sarah and Lucy do it too; what does surprise him is that he steps up right behind Nathan and rests a hand between his shoulderblades.

It’s not completely altruistic, if need be he can get a good grip on Nathan to hold him back, wouldn’t be the first time. But he does also want to let the other man know he’s here too, and here _with_ him—if willing to stop him should it come to that.

“Vince,” Audrey’s calm anger is sort of amazing to watch, if also terrifying to contemplate it being aimed at him.  “Would you like to explain your reasoning behind sending Bryan and Jackie to the _Rouge_ when there was a possibly dangerous criminal on board?” She crosses her arms.

Dave actually looks a little appalled. “Vince!”

Yet Vince seems unconcerned, his heartbeat as calm and steady as before. Which does piss Duke off a little, was there nothing that phased this man? “I knew there was a possibility that she her powers could be removed and thought it worth the risk, Haven has enough problems as it is. A girl who can’t control her abilities and no one to teach her how is dangerous.”

Duke can feel Nathan’s back tense for attack and he acts, tightening his grip on Nathan’s shirt, uses his strength to pull back slightly, dragging Nathan with him. He hopes it’s warning enough for Nathan to back off, although he’s sure if the conversation keeps up like this it’ll get harder to hold him back.

“She could have died, that is _not_ worth getting her abilities removed. Parker could have helped her.” There’s definitely anger in Nathan’s tone, enough that most people would be afraid, and Dave certainly is—he looks like he’d rather be anywhere than here—but Vince is cool as a cucumber, it’d almost be impressive if he weren’t against them. And it’s becoming clear to Duke that he is.

“I thought it worth the risk,” Vince repeats, his tone brooking no argument.

“You knew?” _Now_ Audrey sounds angry, well angrier. “You knew Haskell was supernatural.” It’s not a question. “And you didn’t tell us?” Duke finds that he feels a pang of guilt at that, because of the three of them he’d actually _known_ Ian, if only a little. And yet somehow he hadn’t known that Ian had an ability, wasn’t just one of Haven’s humans. It certainly galls.

“Yes I knew,” well at least they’re getting Vince to admit to _something_ , but it’s a bitter victory. “But he should not have been able to do what he did. Something must have changed him to allow him to take power completely, which is why I sent Jackie to where I knew he was.”

An actually rather impressive snarl escapes Nathan and Duke tightens his grip wondering if he’s going to have to pop his claws or something to get Nathan to back off. “We’re leaving, now.” It does feel sort of strange to realize it’ll be the second time he’s dragged them away from arguments like this, but he also knows when something’s getting him nowhere fast and when to cut his losses.

“Thank-” Vince begins.

“No,” Duke snarls himself. Letting go of Nathan he steps out in front of them, feels his eyes flashing silver in the light, his own anger making itself known. “Don’t fucking thank me. I’m sure as hell not doing this for you Vince, so don’t think I’m on your side here. If it’s my ‘job’ to look after Haven I’m going to do it how _I_ fucking see fit. And that sure as hell includes not putting innocent people in harm's way unless I absolutely have to.”

Up to now Duke’s been fine with his passive, mostly proprietary claim on Haven. But now he wonders if that was the best idea. He’s wanted to avoid holding power because he didn’t want to end up like his grandfather or father, bitter and seemingly hungry for something that Duke didn’t know about. But if it’s the only way to make sure the people of Haven stay _actually_ safe, then maybe it’s a burden he’ll have to bear.

He hopes that having Nathan and Audrey will be anchor enough to keep from following in his family’s footsteps. Turning his head slightly he nods at Dave. “Dave.”

Turning around he puts his hands on Audrey and Nathan and starts pushing them gently to the door. Nathan’s face is slightly shocked, clearly caught off guard by Duke’s uncharacteristic outburst, while Audrey looks thoughtful, something he should probably be worried about but can’t find it in himself to really care.

Now that his anger’s been well and truly riled it sits in his chest, demanding he _do_ something. Since he’s now sort of dating Nathan he’s not sure starting a fight with him would be a good idea; although he’s sure Nathan might appreciate it, even if Audrey didn’t. So that really leaves only one option. “I’m going to go into the brambles and hunt myself a damn moose.” It might not be hunting season, but he’s a damn wolf he hunts when he wants. And really deer are far too easy this time of year, a moose’ll give him a real challenge. “You’re welcome to come along,” he says it more as an afterthought than anything else, he does care about them, but in this case they might just get in the way.

Audrey shakes her head. “I’ve got an appointment, and I’m not a big fan of hunting.” Right, he has vague memories of Nathan talking about when she’d gotten into a sort of pissing match with the Hunting club with that taxidermy case.

Duke looks at Nathan, who might be interesting to go hunting with; if only to see how their interaction will change now that their relationship has. “We’ve got work in two hours.” Duke almost laughs at the response he really should have expected “Sorry,” he at least _does_ sound a little sorry about it.

“Fine,” Duke shrugs, “means I can cut loose.”  Well if he’s perfectly honest he was planning to anyways, but this way he doesn’t have to wait for people to keep catching up, and he won’t have to worry about them getting hurt when, and it probably will be when, some bull gets pissed at him. He doesn’t bother saying goodbye before heading off at a run towards the Brambles.

He hears Nathan and Audrey talking, at least for a few minutes before he gets too far away.

When he reaches the Brambles he turns his focus to catching the scent of any moose nearby, ignoring any cows that have calves. Bulls are what he wants right now; antlers won’t be as much of a problem as they will be come fall, but he’ll still have to keep an eye out.

Shedding his clothes and tucking them in a nearby tree hollow he shifts, letting himself have a moment of uncomplicated pleasure at the feeling. His ears twitch as his nose picks up a scent, definitely a male, and an older one at that.

Perfect.

Locking in on it he stretches then begins an easy lope towards the bull. He’s got all the time in the world.

-

Claire’s waiting for her when Nathan drops her off. There’s a plate of brownies and a fresh pot of coffee on the table and Audrey has to wonder if Claire’s a little bit psychic as well.

There’s a hint of a smile on Claire’s face. “You definitely look like you want to talk.”

Right now she can’t sit still, her body too full of emotion, so she paces, and soon enough it all comes spilling from her. The ‘discussion’ from this morning and how the latest case led to it, How she’s apparently the only one who can see the handprint on Haskell—she’s just glad everyone seems to believe her about it at least. How her anger at Vince has grown in addition to her frustration at him keeping them from the Archives.

Which leads to talking about Mara, and the årsgång and what she’d found out during it.

By the time she’s finishing up she actually feels worn out and she flops onto the couch.

“Okay, wow. Uh, give me a few minutes to work all that out.” A laugh tries to escape Audrey at Claire’s words but she stuffs a brownie into her mouth to stifle it.

Audrey’s finished off the brownie and is pouring herself some coffee by the time Claire finally speaks.  “So yeah, we’ve clearly got a lot to work through,” there’s a wry smile on her face and this time Audrey laughs. “And let me just say that I like you and all Audrey, but I do _not_ want to be in your shoes.”

“Thanks Claire,” not that Audrey blames her. It’s been a trying week.

“But okay, so,” Claire gets out and pours herself some coffee, joining Audrey on the couch after shoving her legs off. “Is there anything in specific you want to talk more about? Or shall we try and get through it all chronologically? I mean I’m pretty sure it’s a tall order either way, but it’ll be somewhere to start.”

This time Audrey only nibbles on her brownie. “I honestly have no idea, I mean where _should_ I start? I’ve got kids I didn’t know about, one who should be dead but isn’t,” right now her theory is something supernatural—which really isn’t that big a leap. “I’ve got a name for another incarnation but I can’t find out anything about her. I feel like my questions have grown exponentially since I got here, and I’m not sure I’ll ever find all the answers.

“I’d say that’s maybe a good thing, I mean from my perspective running out of questions means you’ve run out ideas.” She shrugs as she sips her coffee. “So how do you feel about James and Jennifer? I mean I’d be pretty shocked if I found out I had a kid I didn’t know about, let alone two. And I take it Duke and Nathan are taking it well.” A strange sort of smile crossed Claire’s face. “Christ, that’s kind of weird to think about.”

“Honestly I don’t know, I’ve only met James, and only for a few minutes. I don’t think it’s really sunk in for me. Lucy knew James, but I’m not her, I don’t have your memories. And for Jennifer...No one here knew about her, it’s, kind of sad.” This time Audrey’s drink from her coffee is more contemplative. “I don’t know, it’s just, yeah it doesn’t feel like it’s happened to me just yet. As for Duke and Nathan…

“We haven’t really talked about it, at least not past that only conversation. Should we? I know we want to try and figure out way get them out of this Barn they’re trapped in. But…” Confusion and anxiety make her stomach tie itself in knots. “And on top of that we’ve started a relationship.” Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea; right now she feels worse than before.

“Hey,” Claire shifts closer. “Deep breaths Audrey, I’d like to think you’re safe here. Tell me how you’re feeling so I can help. If you want my offer of fear eating’s still open.”

Audrey shakes her head. “No, I’ve got work. No fear while on the job would be a shit idea.” Even if it might make the next hour or so better. “I just feel like everything’s getting worse, and that it’s all too much.”

“Okay,” Claire scoots until they are hit to hip. Setting her own coffee down on the table, she wraps an arm around Audrey’s shoulders. “Just keep breathing and close your eyes, focus on your breathing. It’s okay to have your thoughts, but don’t try to dwell on them, just let them pass for now. Breathe.”

Letting her eyes slide shut Audrey does as Claire instructs. It’s not that easy, but as the minutes pass Audrey finds it gets better, part of her mind settling. Opening her eyes she gives a faint smile. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem, what’re friends for after all. But okay. So while I’m pretty sure you won’t take this advice, I’m gonna give it anyways. Just focus on the stuff you can deal with right now. James and Jennifer, they’re important, but it’s okay to put them aside to focus on _more_ important things. Cases, this strange handprint thing, your relationship.” Jennifer gave her a little shake.  “You’ve got friends here, people you’ve helped that would love to help you back, Haven cares about you Audrey.”

Which brings a real smile to her face. “I appreciate that,” she even believes it too. “Although I thought you would have had more questions about my new relationship.” She’s fairly certainly it’s not usual for a woman to be with two men.

Claire snorts. “Please, you are not the strangest relationship I’ve dealt with. Although the whole past selves thing is new, which is saying something here,” a shrug. “So I’ll give you the same advice I give all my clients with relationship problems: communicate, be clear about what you want. Make sure you know what they want too, and the three of you do your best to make sure those wants work together, or that you’re willing to compromise.”

“It sounds so simple when you say it like that,” Audrey says, letting her head fall against the back of the couch.

Claire’s arm leaves and her hand pats Audrey on the shoulder. “Yet it rarely is, go on you should probably be heading into work.”

With a groan Audrey pulls herself upright. “Tomorrow night? My place? I’ll provide the wine you bring the company?” She’s not sure how long they’ll be able to stick to ‘normal’ topics of conversation before wheeling back to this whole clusterfuck, but it’s worth a shot.

“Sounds like a plan,” Claire smiles as Audrey stands. “But I’ll call you tomorrow, just in case Kat plans something.”

With a lazy sort of salute Audrey heads off to work.

-

Audrey finds she’s actually glad it’s a slow work day. It allows her mind to sort of...drift; although she’s certain the chief wouldn’t be too happy to find that out.

On the other hand she’s done all her paperwork, and there haven’t been any new cases since Haskell. So she’s leaning against her desk, sipping a coffee, and staring at the whiteboard tucked between Nathan’s desk and the wall.

“You’re gonna burn holes in that if you’re not careful,” Nathan’s voice gently teases from the door.

A huff of laughter leaves her, pushing herself off from her desk she goes over to the whiteboard and angles it better so she can see the whole thing from her desk. “Come here,” she tells him. “Put your hand on the board,” she points about where she wants it.

He doesn’t question her, yet at least, putting his hand on the board and not even batting an eye when she traces around it with the black pen. There are flakes of paint still on the backs of his hand, and under his fingernails, giving her a good idea of what he did with his time apart. “Thanks,” but she says it absently, her focus more on the outline. Once his hand is gone she fills it in, so that it’s nearly all black. She frowns a little, and glancing down at the tray sees he’s only got a blue and a red pen. “You wouldn’t happen to have an orange pen in your desk?”

“No,” he responds without even going over to look. “Why?”

“I’m trying to get how the handprint looked. It wasn’t just black, it had a sheen to it, like it was kind of alive.” Which _almost_  makes sense to some strange part of her.

Nathan joins her in staring, “but you’re certain it was a man’s handprint?”

“Yeah, I mean I guess it could have been a woman with large hands, but Occam’s razor right? And Haskell mentioned a ‘he’.” Putting down the black pen she picks up the red and starts writing. “Whoever it is must have some sort of ability to change other abilities? Vince said Haskell did more than he should have been able to do.”

Nathan makes a frustrated sound next to her, probably still angry at Vince. “I’m pretty sure I would have heard if someone had that ability, or something. Getting your abilities supercharged? A lot of beings I know would go for that.” He picks up the blue pen. “And was Haskell approached? Or did he do the approaching?”

It almost feels like she’s back in the FBI, working on a big case, trying to figure out all the angles. Seeing what a simple conversation can turn up. It makes her blood thrum. While she loves helping the people of Haven, there’s something to be said about a nice meaty mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta admit, writing Duke drawing the line was one of my favorite scenes to write.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I earn my 'M' rating! *party popper explosion*
> 
> Also this is the longest chapter we've had so far (almost 8500 words)...and not just because of the sex...

In the morning Audrey wakes late, it’s her day off and she’ll sleep in if she damn well wants to—even if some of her would rather be at work—especially considering how late she and Claire were up. Under her feet she can faintly hear the sounds of the Gull, it’s not as busy as it could be, but—she glances at the clock—it seems to be doing good business for 8:40 in the morning.

Setting her coffee machine to brew she tugs on a sweater to make herself more decent and steps out onto her porch-balcony. Leaning against the railing she stares out into the small bay and watches the waves and the gulls for a few minutes.

At least until she hears a grunt coming from the side of the Gull. Curiosity pulls her to the left and peering over the edge she sees Duke, carving a...moose? She’s no expert but she thinks it may be halfway done already.

There’s a strange sort of smile crossing her face as she speaks. “Good morning,” although she’s certain he _had_ to have smelled her. Then again with how big that moose is maybe not.

He turns his head and looks up, there’s a blood smear across his cheek. “Good morning,” he smiles. “Hope you like moose, it’s gonna be the special today.” His smile turns into a grin as he sets his carving knife down on the plastic covered bench.

A laugh leaves her, but before she can respond she hears her coffee machine beep. “Want some coffee?”

“Yes, that would be fantastic.” He vanishes under the porch and she hears a sink turn on.

“Be down in a second then.” She retreats back inside grabbing two cups she pours fills them up and shoves her feet into her flip-flops. Downstairs she can actually smell the blood and raw meat, it makes her wrinkle her nose, then again if it’s bad for how she’s amazed how well Duke’s coping.

Avoiding the bloodstained portions of ground she joins him and hands him one of the mugs. “Not sure how you take your coffee,” she admits, a little bashfully.

He takes it with a smile. “Black’s fine,” he blows on it and takes a sip. “How are you?” He leans down and gives her a kiss on the forehead. It catches her off guard for a moment.

“Good,” She returns the favor by kissing his cheek, the one _not_ covered in blood. “How about you? That thing’s huge, by the way. Are you sure it’s not going to be the special for the whole _week_?” It’s got to weigh a few hundred pounds at least, she’s not sure even the whole of Haven could get through that in a day. She’s certain he’ll be serving it on the Fourth in a few days.

“Oh I can freeze or sell off the rest. I wouldn’t try and just cook a whole ton of venison in various ways, the staff might try and rebel if I did.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “And I’m good. Better than yesterday at least.”

They fall into a companionable silence for the next few minutes, the both of them lost in their own thoughts and enjoying their coffee. Even with the half-dismantled moose it’s nice. “How long do you think this’ll take you?” She thinks it be be better to do as Claire suggested sooner rather than later.

“Maybe two hours more at least,” Duke sets his mug down. “I’ve gotten most of the meat off, but I’ve still got to finish breaking it down. Then yeah, packing it all up and calling up James to see if he wants any for the shop, and just letting people know I’ve got extra.” He sidles up next to her, turning slightly so he could easily pin her if he wanted. “What? Did you want to do something today?” His voice drops a little and it makes her lips curl in a smile.

“Nothing that fun at first sadly,” maybe when they’re done. “I just thought the three of us could talk more about...well us. Try and figure out how we’re going to make this work.” She _wants_ this to work, and while she’s sure they’ll never stop having conversations about it she wants to have this first one done with, especially before they even think about having sex.

“Mmm happy thought?”  Duke grins down at her as he moves and pins her to the table.

Audrey grins up at him, rising up onto her tiptoes. “Pretty sure they’ll always be happy when I’m thinking of the two of you,” she’s also pretty sure she’s never said anything so sappy in her life; Duke must think it too from the way his grin curls. “Don’t tell Nathan,” he’ll find it even more romantic than Duke, and she kind of wants to forget she ever said it. Bridging the gap between them she kisses him, so damn happy that she can do it and not worry.

When they pull apart Duke’s still grinning. “A convincing argument Detective Parker,” she finds herself biting back a laugh. “But seriously that sounds like a  good idea, I don’t have anything really planned once I’m finished with this, so just let me know.”

“Alright,” she gives him a much briefer kiss. “I’m gonna go back upstairs and dress and eat,” her stomach’s definitely starting to demand something more substantial than coffee. “I’ll call Nathan and tell him to meet us here. Noon work?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Duke steps away and goes back to the moose, picking up the knife and after walking halfway around the carcass starts cutting away at something.

Finishing off her own coffee she grabs Duke’s mug and heads back up. Pouring herself another cup she puts some bread in her toaster and roots around for eggs in her fridge. While she’s got those cooking she dresses, a thrum of excitement starts to fill her as she slips on some of her nicer underwear—at the moment the plan is only to talk, but she’s open to sex.

Dressed she flips her eggs and calls up Nathan. He sounds a little out of breath when he answers. “Wuornos.” She bites back a laugh at the thought of him not using his caller ID.

“Good morning Nathan,” she wedges the phone between her shoulder and ear before grabbing her spatula and scooping her eggs onto her toast. “You busy in a few hours?” She knows he doesn’t have work, but he might have other things planned—however unlikely.

Faintly she hears something tapping against glass. “No, what’s up?”

“Just thought the three of us could get together and talk about us, relationship stuff.” She shrugs even though he can’t see it. “Start as you mean to go on right?”

He gives a quiet huff of laughter. “Alright, where and when?” That tapping sound again.

She gives her own huff of laughter in response. “Do we meet anywhere else but the Gull Wuornos?” she teases. “And around noon, and it’s more likely to be my apartment than the Gull.” She’s not sure any of them want to deal with the lunch crowd, even if Duke’s the owner. She takes a bite of her breakfast.

“Eating breakfast?” He teases right back. “Noon works for me.”

“Please,” she rolls her eyes. “I bet you woke at dawn like the old timer you are,” there is something a little weird about teasing him about his age, but it’s a fact that isn’t going to change anytime soon—and really she’s apparently well over a hundred herself, so it’s all relative—and she’s had a long time to get used to it.

There’s a moment of silence over the line and she finds a grin crossing her face as she takes another bite. “You did, didn’t you? Was the sunrise nice?” She’s marginally a morning person, so long as that morning starts around six thirty; any earlier and she’s snappish.

“Yeah,” Nathan finally admits, and she can just picture him standing somewhere in his house blushing.

Again she hears the tapping sound. “What’re you doing?” If she keeps hearing the sound and she doesn’t know what it’s from it’s going to bug her for the rest of the call.

“Painting,” he answers. Ah, so the tapping would be him cleaning his brush.

The idea of Nathan painting brings a sort of smile to her face. “What’ca painting?” She nearly asks what he’s wearing, but thinks that might be a little too much too fast for Nathan. Maybe at some later date she’ll lure him into phone sex while he’s painting...hmm, now there’s an idea. Reaching across the table she grabs a pencil and her notepad jotting down ‘edible body paint’. She wonders if she’d be able to find that in Derrie, or if she’d have to drive all the way in to Bangor. On the other hand it might just be better to order it online.

“Just a seascape,” Nathan’s voice coaxes her from her thoughts. “Nothing too original.” She detects a hint of self-deprecation in his tone.

“We’ll I’d certainly love to see it, and at the very least I’d love to hang it on my walls, my apartment could use some more personalization.” She finds she doesn’t care if it’s the fucking ugliest thing in the world, if Nathan gives it to her she’ll proudly hang it over her hearth as a conversation piece.

“Okay,” he must be blushing again. “I’ll bring it over when I’m done, noon right?”

“Around then,” she agrees. “Talk to you later.” Hanging up she finishes up her breakfast and pours herself a third cup of coffee. She eyes her apartment critically for the next few minutes before finally getting up, turning the radio on for background noise, and starting to clean.

She makes herself stop by the time she’s certain that the apartment’s more clean than when she first moved in—it at least got her to about eleven. Downing the last bit of cold coffee she puts her mug in the sink and grabs a book off her shelves. Sitting her ass down on the couch she opens it and starts reading.

It’s probably a good thing it’s one she’s already read before, because while she swears she’s reading it everything seems to go in one ear and out the other. But it still burns time.

Enough time that the knock on her door actually surprises her. She shoves her book back on it’s shelf on her way to the door. Opening it she blinks when she sees Duke holding a serving tray. “You didn’t have to make lunch,” she tells him; especially since she’s got a sneaking suspicion that he just did it to use up some of that moose meat—to be fair Audrey’s never actually _had_ moose before, maybe she’ll like it.

She steps aside to let him in, finding herself smiling when he leans down to kiss her again as he walks past. “Please, you know me. Any excuse to grace you both with my skills.”

A snort reaches her ears from outside and she sticks her head out to see Nathan just reaching the top of the stairs, a wrapped canvas under his arm. She grins at him. “Just in time for moose.”

“I didn’t make you venison,” Duke protests. “Nathan doesn’t like it.” Huh, she arches a questioning eyebrow at Nathan as he enters.

“Too gamey,” he answers with a shrug. He, blushing, hands over the canvas and Audrey rips into the wrapping like a child on Christmas.

Audrey will admit she’s not much of an art person, sure she likes to look at it, but she can’t really tell the difference between ‘good’ and ‘masterpiece’. Which isn’t to say Nathan’s painting is ugly, far from it. But she’s not sure how to judged it beyond ‘lovely’ and ‘peaceful’. “Thank you,” rising up on her tiptoes she kisses his cheek.

“It’s good work,” Duke agrees as he sets his tray down.

And just like Audrey promised herself she takes it over to the empty mantle and sets it there. Maybe later she’ll get an actual nail and hang it but for now she’s more than happy with this.

When she turns around Nathan and Duke are already sitting down and she quickly joins them as Duke uncovers his tray, revealing what looks like clam chowder two ways, as well as a plate of oysters. Now he’s the one she’s arching an eyebrow at. “Trying to get us in the mood Duke?”

“Always,” he says with a grin, handing her a bowl of what she considers ‘normal’ chowder and spoon.

Nathan’s ears turn pink as Duke hands him a bowl, she’s seen Manhattan style before, but she would have thought Nathan would stick to what Maine would consider ‘real’ chowder. There’s a smile on her face as she digs in, and all three of them fall into a companionable silence as they eat. Audrey doesn’t mind, they’ve all day to talk if need be.

They’ve all finished off their bowls and while Audrey doesn’t want to even _look_ at the oysters she can see Duke and Nathan eyeing them. “Go ahead,” she tells them. “I’m stuffed.”

Under the table she feels one of Duke’s legs hook her own as he takes two, drizzles some of the sauce on them and downs them, one after the other. Nathan does the same, but with only one.

Audrey leans back in her chair a little feeling full and warm. “Details,” she says, slightly out of the blue. “We need to talk about the details of this relationship. And what we want.” No use beating around the bush with this whole subject, being as upfront as possible will probably be better for them all. “And no ‘I’m good with anything’,” she tilts her head and narrows her eyes slightly at both of them. While she knows Duke is the more likely to say it, Nathan might too.

“I’ll start us off,” since she’s certain both will be scrambling with their own thoughts. “I want to date the both of you, and definitely have sex with both of you. It doesn’t have to be the both of you at the same time, although I sure as hell would love that,” in a way going out on a date with both of them would feel like she’s flaunting some sort of broken rule, proof that she can do things for herself, and not just because it’s for the good of Haven. “But there _will_ be dates. What happens during sex is negotiable,” she shrugs. “My sex life as I remember it hasn’t been all that adventurous and I’m interested in branching out.” And boy howdy is she already doing that.

“I like the sound of all of that,” Duke chimes in. “Especially the group dates. We’re definitely going to have to work out a way to share when we’re free and when we’re busy.”

Nathan blushes, “I don’t know if I’d be comfortable with a group date, people will talk.” She supposes that’s true, but again Audrey’s putting this in the ‘for her’ category, so what Haven decides to do about it is Haven’s problem.

Duke snorts. “Please, Mrs. Rafferty holds an orgy every Tuesday, you don’t see anyone giving _her_ strange looks, as far as Haven goes this isn’t anything all that shocking.”

“Wait?” Audrey blinks. “Haven has a weekly orgy? How the hell did I not hear about this?” To be fair she’s not exactly interested in _going_ but still, she’s been here six months and she’s just _now_ hearing about it?

Nathan looks like he could stand in for a tomato. She wonders if it’s the subject matter or of the fact that they’re talking about it. “Jane’s a succubus,” he still manages to explain.

“And they’re invitation only,” Duke chips in. “I’ve been once or twice,” of course he has. “Good fun. And okay, people might stare for a week or so because _Nathan’s_ part of this, but the polyamory part no one’ll really bat an eye at.”

“Like I said,” Audrey tries to get them back on track. “It’s what I’d _like_ , but I don’t have to get it.” She leans forward slightly so she’s resting her arms on the table. “Now you both go.”

“I want to give you both some of my clothes,” Duke says quickly. “And I want some of yours, well some of _Nathan’s_ in exchange. Sorry Audrey,” he flashes her a grin. “But I don’t think I could fit into any of your shirts.”

She laughs. “So scent marking is a real werewolf thing?” Although even if it weren’t she’d be more than happy to wear some of Duke’s and Nathan’s clothes.

Duke’s grin turns wry. “Sure,” he agrees.

They both give Nathan an expectant look, his gaze darts for a few minutes, before settling on the remaining oysters. “Can, can I think about it some more? I, I think I’m gonna have a hard time telling you both some of this.” His words intrigue Audrey, and possibly Duke too from the look of things, but she won’t push. They all need to respect each other's boundaries for now.

“Sure,” Audrey tells him, grateful that a glance at Duke sees that he’s nodding. Standing up she refills her coffee makers, setting it on to brew again. “So, other things…”

They talk longer than Audrey thought they would, which she’s sure is a good thing. At the very least they covered a lot of ground, at least in her mind.

On the table are now the remains of both dinner—Duke had gone down about an hour ago to get it—and their earlier lunch. And Audrey’s feeling pretty good about everything. So much so that she finds her gaze drifting, from time to time, towards her freshly made bed. It might be a bit of a tight squeeze but she bets all three of them would be willing to make a go of it.

It’s during one such time that she blurts out, “I want you both, now.” She doesn’t even have to look back at them to know that they’re paying much more attention than they were before.

“I’d love that,” Duke’s voice is slightly deeper and rougher, it makes her think of him talking her into an orgasm with that voice. She shivers at the idea.

“Yeah,” she can practically hear Nathan’s smile.

She tears her eyes away from her bed to look at, _her_ two men. And she stands, momentarily putting herself above them. “So how are we going to do this?” It seems now that they’ve talked about everything but the actual act; and part of her gives the startling realization that they’ll actually know things about her body that she doesn’t—they’ve done this before, if not in this way.

“Nathan first,” Duke answers as he too stands. The expression he wears is a strange one, caught between happy and an unexpected sort of resignation.

She arches an eyebrow, more than happy to question everything at this point. “And why’s that?”

But before he can speak up Nathan does. “No,” they both turn to look at him and he gives a little shake of his head. “I mean I…” his eyes are a little wider than Audrey’s comfortable with as he runs a hand through his hair and stands as well. He gives a gusty sigh then continues. “I, I want to see Duke have you,” a blush creeps up his neck. “I want to watch.”

An unexpected jolt of heat rocks her, and her eyes flit from Nathan to Duke. Who’s staring at Nathan like he’s never seen the other man before; to be fair Audrey feels the same way, but now she’s also curious to know what other sexual secrets Nathan might be hiding. It makes her wonder if this has anything to do with those things that he’d have a hard time telling them.

“Duke?” She speaks, wanting to make sure that he’d be okay with it. “Would you like that?” As he turns to meet her gaze, she watches his eyes darken, pupils dilating. “Because I think I would.”

For the briefest of moments she watches the thin circle of his irises flicker sliver as he inhales deeply. “Yes,” he eventually rumbles out; it doesn’t all surprise her to think of Duke as an exhibitionist.

She smiles. “Good,” reaching out she weaves her fingers in his myriad necklaces, gently using them to guide him around the table and then slowly back towards her bed. All the while her gaze going back to Nathan. “And what are you going to do?” She arches a questioning eyebrow.

His own pupils have dilated, and his breathing’s picked up. “Watch,” he repeats, like it should be obvious. A smile tugs at her lips, and she gives an affectionate roll of her eyes as Duke’s warmth starts invading her personal space.

“Sit down then, make yourself comfortable.” Well as comfortable as you could get without feeling. She’s got the right sentiment at least. And it will at least make it easier for her and Duke to positions themselves to give him the show he apparently wants.

As he starts to move she turns her attention back on Duke, tugging on his necklaces this time gets him to bend his head down, arching up on her toes she kisses him. He catches on almost immediately and it turns from good to wonderfully hot sooner than she thought it would. She doesn’t even protest when she feels Duke takes control of their walk towards the bed, caught up in the tangle of lips, tongues, and breathy noises.

When her legs hit the bed however it does catch her slightly off guard and before she knows it she’s falling, her grip on him taking Duke with her. The weight of him falling on her makes her gasp and break away from kissing, he obligingly lets her catch her breath and lifts himself off her slightly.

Seconds later she feels good again and finds herself opening her mouth. “Wanna take me doggy style or just wing it?” Probably proof that she’s read a few to many werewolf romances, but hey, if she’s got one romance cliche why not try for two?

Duke stares at her, clearly trying to work through ‘sex’ to try and understand what she just said. But she knows when he gets it because he starts laughing, his forehead falling to her shoulder as the laughter starts shaking her and the bed slightly.

Turning her head left she lucks out and finds Nathan almost immediately, settled in the nearby chair, hands gripping his knees, with an expression of shock, affection, and arousal on his face. She gives him a broad smile of triumph.

As his laughter begins to die down she turns her head back to Duke, who pulls his head back up and gives her a soft, lingering kiss. He’s smiling when he pulls away. “Thanks for that.”

“No problem.” She untangles her hand and promptly tugs at his shirt. “But we’re wearing far too many clothes.”

He gives her a look that’s somehow mock appraising. “So we are.”

Seemingly in sync their hands begin to tug and pull at clothes, tossing them aside once their off—she’s about 98 percent certain her bra lands on Nathan’s head. Even though she’s got most of her attention on Duke she can feel Nathan’s eyes on the both of them, the sheer force of his gaze making her feel as if he’s in the bed with them.

Their stripping hands stop once they’re down to underwear, the both of them silently agreeing to just stop for a moment. Let themselves look their fill.

Basically naked Duke somehow looks longer and rangier, tanned skin and seemingly impossible tattoos creating an enticing view as her gaze drifts further down, her hands are resting on his waist, thumbs rubbing the tonned skin there. It’s enough to make a woman’s mouth water.

But as she looks her fill she finds herself wondering what Duke sees, her earlier thought about them having done this before returning with a vengeance. To her it might be all fresh and new, but he’s done this all before and it makes her feel a little inadequate, how good had Maggie been in bed? Would Duke be thinking about her instead of Audrey?

“Audrey?” Duke’s voice is soft and she feels his warm hand touch her chin and tilt her head up to look him in the eye. “What’s wrong?”

She’s not sure if she likes or hates that Duke can tell a lot of things about her just by smelling. It definitely feels like an unfair advantage. She bites her lip, knowing that she should probably tell him, but also realizing how embarrassed she feels. “I,” she starts, then finds herself falling silent when she hears a rustle from where Nathan’s siting. Seconds later a slightly cool hand tugs one of her’s off Duke and laces their fingers together.

“I’m just, I can’t help but wonder if you’re thinking about Maggie, or me.” She’s said it, but in doing so she realizes how damn pathetic is sounds, she’s worried that he’ll be comparing her with, well _herself_. Then again who said anything about all of this being _rational_? “Sorry,” she looks right, so she’s not staring at Nathan. “It’s ridiculous.”

“Hey,” Duke’s fingers turn her head back. “No, not ridiculous.” His gaze is fierce, “and I’m definitely not accepting that apology, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” As if to try and keep some semblance of ‘sex is about to happen’ he nuzzles the line of her jaw. “Now why are you thinking I’d compare you to Maggie?”

She takes a deep breath, part of her wishing they could just have sex so she could try and lose herself in the rush of pleasure, but it wouldn’t be fair to Duke, or Nathan. She squeezes Nathan’s hand, and lets herself take comfort in the bubble of happiness when he squeezes back. “Because this is the same body,” which even if she knows it’s true still feels weird to say. “You, the both of you, have kind of already had sex with me, but you know, without the me. And it’s ridiculous, but I can’t stop wondering about it, if they were better, that you already know what I like.”

Duke pulls back again, so he can look her in the eye, he doesn’t respond right away, but she can tell he’s thinking seriously about it. Which she appreciates. Meanwhile she can feel Nathan’s thumb rub soothing circles on the skin between her own thumb and pointer finger. “And here I thought I had emotional issues,” Nathan’s joke falls a little flat, but she’s grateful that he tried.

“So,” Duke’s voice pulls her back to him. “What if I proved that even if it’s the same body I don’t know you at all? And that I’m not thinking of Maggie, and if she’s better?” It’s not exactly a challenge, but he definitely means it.

Audrey lets herself embrace the idea as best she can, more grateful that Duke’s taking her seriously and willing to try and work with it. “Sure,” she hopes he can, because she doesn’t want this specter to cast a pall every time she has sex with them.

He moves so he’s upright, straddling her waist, but not putting any weight on it; on the plus it means she gets to ogle his abs all she wants so she’s not going to complain on that front. Sill her eyes follow his arms as he slides his hands up her sides until his fingers are laying against her ribs.

She frowns when she feels him start to lightly drag his fingers against the skin there. “What are you doing?” It’s not that she doesn’t like it, well she’s ambivalent about it, but she doesn’t see the point.

Lips crooking into a smile Duke stops. “That use to drive Maggie wild. She was ticklish as hell and that would always make her laugh,” he says it plainly.

Huh, Audrey’s never really been ticklish, and the thought that her body used to be is weird to her.

“Hey Nathan,” Duke turns his head slightly, that smile still on his face. “What was a sensitive spot for Sarah, doesn’t have to be ticklish?” Audrey hadn’t exactly thought it would be kind of a turn on for someone to demonstrate how well they _didn’t_ know her body.

There’s a brief second of silence before Nathan answers, “the backs of her knees.”

Just the thought of it makes Audrey squirm in a not good way, because it’s the backs of her knees and why would anyone touch that? “I’m saying that’s a no,” she tells Duke before he even starts to shift down to try it. “It’s bothering me already.”

Nathan and Duke both give brief huffs of amusement, but Duke doesn’t move down, instead leans down, resting on both his forearms and knees. “See? I don’t know you at all Audrey Parker. And you’ll have to take my word for it, but  I’m about as likely to compare you to Maggie as I am Nathan to any other guy I’ve slept with.”

“Hey,” but Nathan’s protest is half-hearted at best.

Still Audrey finds a small smile of her own breaking through; she won’t say she’s over it, but Duke’s also proved his point. Getting it out in the open probably helped, but now that it’s been dealt with, at least a little bit, she finds she wants to move on.

With her free hand she reaches up and drags her hand down Duke’s chest, her nails creating faint white lines against his skin. Reaching the waistband of his boxers she dips a finger in and brushes it against the warm skin of his hip. Her smiles turns pleased as he reacts.

“So why don’t you come and learn me then Crocker?” She arches an eyebrow in challenge, pulling her hand back and stretching underneath him, showing herself off at least a little.

For a moment Duke’s toothy smile looks like, well, like it has too many teeth in it, but then he ducks his head down and gets to work.

And about ten minutes later she feels a bit like goo. He noses the outside of her breast again, which makes her squirm in a good way, before moving down, nibbling his way to her belly. His hands pin her hips down as he just stares at her skin and breathes on it.

She squirms again, this time to encourage him to do more. “Duke,” she pleads, wanting him to finally be in her.

“Greedy,” he looks up and her and gives a broad grin when he says it though. Finally he moves down to her panties, and starts to take them off, with his teeth.

By the time they’re off she’s shaking with laughter, the whole of it just far too amusing for her. “I hope,” she reminds herself to breath. “That you’re not going to drag those off somewhere and bury them.” While they’re not ‘sexy-sexy’ underwear she still likes them.

Duke gives her an affronted look, and just gives a disappointed shake of his head. “When will it end?” She’s not sure if he’s talking to her, Nathan, or just to the world in general.

Either way it falls to the wayside as she watches Duke slid off his own boxers. She finds her mouth watering slightly at the sight of his cock.

As he moves over her, an arm reaching for the bedside table she props herself up slightly and licks his skin, the tip of her tongue tracing designs against his chest. He grunts and shivers, and if she weren’t so interested in the intercourse part she would love to investigate that more; but they’ve got time enough for that.

His arm returns, with a condom in hand. Look, they might be planning on keeping her out of the Barn when October rolls around but she’s not exactly wanting a third kid, even if she would actually be able to raise it.

Condom on Duke looks her in the eye. “Ready?”

She looks down his body to see him take his cock in hand. “Yes,” she says, spreading her legs to give him better access.

She might be wet, but she also hasn’t had sex in a while, so Duke slides in slowly. Even then it’s just that side of too much and she finds herself shuddering anew each time he slides in a little more—if she could think about it she’d probably be worried that she was cutting off the circulation in Nathan’s fingers she’s gripping his hand so tightly.

But she’s enjoying it, her brain going slightly haywire and a litany of moans and whimpers leaving her mouth. Which she would be more embarrassed about if she were the only one making noises, oh Duke’s gritting his teeth—although she doesn’t know if it’s to keep from crying out or if he’s trying to keep himself from hurting her—but Nathan, Nathan’s panting and groaning occasionally. Sounds that she finds make her squirm even more.

Finally though Duke’s all the way in, and she’s pretty sure all three of them are breathing heavily as the world around them seems to still for a moment.

Then she’s wrapping her legs around his hips, knees pressing into his sides. “Duke,” this time it’s a plea of a different sort. Her hand slides up his back, her nails scratching harder.

“Merciful gods Audrey,” one of Duke’s hands slides around her back and props her up slightly, giving him a better angle to kiss her with. Although it also shifts him inside her.

As she gets lost in the kiss he thrusts forward. She breaks away with a loud gasp, baring her neck for him as she turns to stare at Nathan.

Like Duke his eyes are completely blown and staring right where her hips meet Duke’s, his chest is heaving like he’s the one exerting himself, and his own free hand looks like it’s about to tear holes in his jeans. Just seeing him like that punches a sharp sound out of her, and she finds herself clinging to Duke more, trying to drive him on.

It seems to be working too since he thrusts harder and she’s pretty sure she just saw stars.

“Liking,” Duke pants against her neck. “What you seen Nathan?” There’s something darkly satisfied about Duke’s tone and it makes an answering darkness in Audrey curl in pleasure.

Especially when Duke’s question makes Nathan keen. The sound makes her clench around Duke, who grunts, and it’s probably the best feedback loop Audrey’s ever been in.

Not that it goes on for long, Duke burying his face in her neck and snarling, his body stiffening above her.

In the ensuing silence Audrey feels Duke’s hand slip away from her back, his body falling slightly more on her as his weight shifts to his arms. He slips out of her with a slight frown. “You didn’t orgasm,” he sounds almost offended; but at least Audrey’s worn out enough that she can’t even find it in her to laugh.

“Who cares? That was fucking amazing.” The smile on her face is probably a dopy one, but again she doesn’t exactly give a fuck. It feels like it takes forever, but she untangles her fingers from Nathan’s, only for them to wrap lightly around his wrist; she gives a soft tug. “You could eat me out Nathan, since Duke’s so invested.” Not that she wouldn’t say no to Duke doing the deed himself, but she also wants Nathan to be more involved than he is.

To her surprise Nathan moves towards her, his gaze intent. Duke obligingly moves, shifting so that he’s laying next to her; one of his hands drifting up to lazily play with her breast.

She shivers as she watches Nathan kneel at the end of the bed, his hands gently coming up to grasp her ankles and spread her legs. “God Audrey,” the way he’s looking at her, like if his pupils could they would be dilated a whole lot more from lust, makes her pussy clench.

He starts tugging her to him, slower than she’d like, Duke laughs softly against her shoulder and she pinches him in retaliation.

It feels a little strange to have her naked legs slung over Nathan’s still clothed shoulders, but she sort of likes it. His breath is hot against her and she finds herself shivering again, her hands moving to tangle in his hair and grasping tight. “Eat me,” it comes out more of a command than she expected it too.

Not that Nathan seems to mind, if the strangled moan that leaves him as he dives in is any indication.

Whoever taught Nathan to eat a woman out did it spectacularly well, and now she’s finding it hot more than awkward to realize that it was probably her—thanks Sarah. He does it wholeheartedly, lips, tongue, a bit of teeth, even his nose all intent on enjoying her.

“You’re both so fucking hot,” Duke’s voice is a low rumble in her ear. “I can’t wait to see straightlaced Nathan’s face covered in your juices.” Dear God.

Both she and Nathan groan, and just like that she’s being tipped over into orgasm. Her world goes black and white for a few seconds, and something like a whimpering moan leaves her mouth as one of Nathan’s fingers slides in and starts teasing her g-spot. “Nathan!” Her grip on his hair must be painfully tight, but she doesn’t think he cares.

Finally he abates and she feels like a limp dishrag as he pulls away.

When she sees his face, just as much of a mess as Duke wanted, she sighs, wishing she had the energy to _do_ something.

Then again Duke seems well up for the task, leaning over her to get at Nathan. Her eyes close halfway as she watches them kiss while Duke ‘cleans’ Nathan up. “Want me to take care of that?” One of Duke’s hands drift down to trace along the bulge in Nathan’s pants. One that makes her want to lick her lips.

“No,” Nathan pulls away slightly, “I’m sorry, I’m just not-”

“Hey,” Duke interrupts, darting in to lay a softer kiss against Nathan’s lips. “It’s alright,” it’s clear, to her at least, that Duke would rather Nathan have said ‘yes’, but he backs off. Returning to Audrey’s side and tugging her more towards the pillows.

Once he seems happy with their position, he snuggles close to her, pulling one of the sheets over them. Somehow Audrey manages to draw up the strength to pat the other side of the bed. “Join us,” she half-slurs. He might not be comfortable with sex with Duke, but she should hope he’s okay with snuggling considering how often it seems to happen.

Barely a minute later Nathan’s down to his boxers and is pressed against her other side. Later she might complain, despite Nathan’s cold hands he throws off just as much heat as Duke does, but right now it feels wonderful as she drifts off to sleep.

-

Duke wakes in the morning feeling sated and content. Opening his eyes he sees Audrey and Nathan—part of him is relieved he didn’t make up the past two or so days. He can feel a ridiculous sort of smile begin to split his face and lets it.

His gaze lingers on Audrey and Nathan—who’s clinging to Audrey tight enough that it can’t be good—the both of them more than he ever really hoped for. Now all he can do is his best to make sure things don’t fall apart on his end.

After a few more seconds his stomach rumbles, breakfast would be a good start. Slowly he slides out of bed, not wanting to disturb his, lovers?

There is a pang of annoyance as he pulls on some boxers and shorts, but he does his best to let it be. Nathan’s never been with a guy before, so it’s expected that he’ll be nervous. Baby steps. Maybe go the whole seduction route; that might be fun actually.

The idea brings a smile back to his face as he pads across the floor to the kitchen. He at least knows a good place to start.

The bacon’s almost done when he finally hears movement behind him. Duke would love to turn around and check it out but he’s got breakfast to finish. Plopping some butter in a pan he swirls it around as it melts, scooping out some batter he pours it in to start cooking, then starts cracking eggs to scramble.

He’s pretty sure that’s a moan he hears, and here he thought Audrey and Nathan were going to kill him with their damn heroics.

But now that he’s started breakfast he can’t exactly stop, so he just has to content himself with listening—not exactly a mental hardship, although according to his dick it’s a physical one—as he takes the bacon out of the pan and pours off the grease.

Only to replace it with eggs. Clearing off the griddle he starts a second batch, and thankfully he’s almost done now.

So a few minutes later he’s finally turning around, staring at the sight that was behind him.

Audrey’s on top, arching in an enticing manner as she grinds down on Nathan. Who looks like he’s about to arch off the bed himself. Duke, meanwhile, has to fight to keep from groaning. He attempt to clear his throat but it comes out a tad bit more strangled than he would have liked. “While I’m all for hot morning sex I’ve got pancakes and the rest of breakfast getting cold.”

Nathan nearly jackknifes upright, all but dislodging Audrey from his lap.

She seems to take it in good spirits, however. “I see how it is,” she sounds both amused, affectionate, and mildly put out. “Pancakes rate above sex with your girlfriend.” Duke hopes she calls herself his girlfriend too or he might feel left out.

The terrified expression on Nathan’s face is almost comical and Duke has to bite his lip to keep from laughing. “I, that is, Audrey…” He’s red everywhere and it’s sort of wonderful.

But he at least can give a solution that’ll make everyone happy. “Or we could have breakfast in bed, so long as nothing hinky happens with the food. Those stains are a pain in the ass to get out of sheets.” He speaks from experience.

Nathan’s look of gratitude is something Duke will remember for the rest of his life.

“That sounds wonderful Duke,” Audrey smiles at him.

“Be right back then.” He turns around, which is pretty damn hard considering, and quickly loads up plates and trays, good thing he never bothered to take their dishes down yesterday. Easily carrying both back to the bedroom. Audrey and Nathan look much more presentable, although seeing Audrey in one of his plaid shirts kind of makes him want to ravage her, as he hands trays to them.

Nathan’s seemingly intent on the peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes Duke made; digging as soon as humanly possible. “These are amazing,” and now at least Duke knows Nathan’s ‘good food’ groans are about the same as his ‘sex’ groans.

Which is not what he should be thinking about at the moment, thank you very much. He tries to focus on his own pancakes for a few minutes, brain working to find a topic that might _not_ be sexual. “The Archive,” he says out of the blue.

Both of them look at him taken back. “Huh?” Nathan asks, fork halfway to his mouth.

“You two don’t have work today,” it’s far less concerning now that he’s with them that he knows their schedules. “So unless something apocalyptic happens we’ve got all the time we could want to get into the Archives.” While he has vague memories of his father talking about it, he’s never really thought much about it, or cared one way or the other; except now it has a use and it’s being barred from them, what better reason to be interested now?

“Sounds good to me,” Audrey says around the eggs in her mouth, Duke finds himself vaguely horrified. But he resists the urge to tell her to not speak with her mouth full because it’s kind of rude, if polite.

Instead of speaking Nathan nods, his fork searching for any last scraps of pancakes, with a fond sort of smile Duke gives him his last one. Nathan gives him a happy smile in return, and from here baby steps seem just find to Duke.

-

In a way Nathan wonders if everything else will ever be this easy. Once again they’d gone through Duke’s basement, and finally down the hall that they’d found last time. Ending up in front of an actual door. Once with a lock so old that it fell apart at Duke’s touch. Easy.

The door groans open, which is when things get not so easy. “Hello?” A woman’s voice, no, Nathan shakes his head _Jordan’s_ voice—but what the hell is she doing in the Archive?—calls out, followed moments later by a flashlight beam.

Almost as one the three of them back up. At least until they’re not easily visible, on the other hand they’re in a straight hall, with a wide open door, it’s only a matter of time before Jordan finds them. But they’ve got some time yet. “I’ll deal with Jordan,” Nathan says quietly.

“I’m immune too,” Parker points out softly.

He knows, but he still somewhat feels responsible for Jordan, and he’s afraid of what might happen. “She’s taller than you,” technically the truth, but Nathan’s leaving out the fact that it’s only by an inch or two. “And I’ll be able to get a better angle to choke her unconscious.” It’s enough to make him wish he had some of his old mojo back, being able to induce sleep would be fantastic right about now.

Parker narrows her eyes and looks to Duke. “What?” He hisses. “As the only person Jordan can actually hurt just by touching I think it’s fair that I stay out of this. But you’d better make a choice fast, she’s getting closer.”

“Fine,” Parker hisses back. “But we’re talking about this later Wuornos.” Mentally he grimaces, somewhat certain it mimics his face, but he’ll live.

Turning back around Nathan creeps into the Archive, a brief glance around tells him where Jordan is, and he goes the other way, intent on getting behind her before she finds the door.  It takes time of course, he’s got to walk slowly since this is an unfamiliar space, but he does it.

Straightening he takes the last few steps quickly and gets his arm around her throat before she even knows what’s happening. She struggles, her skin coming into contact with his more than once—and he should probably be worried about her telling someone that it was him that attacked her—but she can’t shake his grip. Once he’s certain she’s really unconscious and not just playing possum he picks her up and looks for somewhere to put her.

He finds a desk and chair by what must be the actual entrance to the Archives, and sets her down. By the time he makes his way back to their own secret door Duke and Parker are already in the Archive proper getting their first looks around, their own flashlights scanning everything around them.

“Wow,” Parker sounds amazed. “How long as this place been here?” She steps up to a bookshelf and reaching out takes one of the books.

“Since Haven was founded," Duke replies. One of his fingers travels across the spines of a row of books. “So we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. We should probably split up.”

“I take the left, you take the right and Parker does the center?” Nathan suggests.

Parker puts her book back. “Works for me.”

Turning his attention to his section Nathan finally pulls out his own flashlight and turns it on. At the first shelf he picks books at random, pulling them out flipping through and speed reading a few pages, only to put them back. At least he knows he can skip over the newer looking books, Mara would have been in Haven before 1874, anything more recent than that probably won’t be of much use. Which still leaves a lot of town history to comb through, especially when all they have is a name.

All too soon Nathan finds himself losing track of the time, mind tensing when he hears any small sound, wondering if it’s Jordan waking up. Only to refocus on reading as he realizes it was either Parker or Duke. Rinse and repeat.

He’s at an older part of the Archive now and really the sheer number of books in the collection make him wonder why Vince and Dave have been hounding him for decades about the town history. Clearly they’ve got all they could ever want down here.

Shaking that thought off, it’s not all that important right now, he turns his attention back to looking.

The books keep getting older and older—he’s sneezed more than once—and he’s wondering if maybe he should start over again when he finds something. _The woman Mara finallie spok this day._ “Hey,” he calls out. “I might have found something.”

As Duke and Parker approach he flips to the front of the book out of curiosity, just to see who’s journal he’s reading. _Being the Diarie of Michael Driscoll, Revrend, in the Yeare of Our Lord 1685, Parte 1._

“What is it?” Parker’s voice nearly catches him off guard with how close it is.

His vision shifts as he gives a little shake of his head to focus himself and flips ahead again. Ending up a few pages from where he thinks he might have been. Which should be good enough. “It’s a diary, Michael Driscoll’s apparently. It’s from the year Haven was founded.”

Duke gives a low whistle. “I’d forgotten the Driscolls were that old a family. What’s it say?”

It might be nothing, or it might be exactly what they’re looking for. Nathan looks back down at the page and starts reading. “...and so we were agreed. That night was a dark and lonely one…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, moose meat is also called venison, it _is_ just a huge ass deer after all.
> 
> Also the chowder thing comes from a headcanon of mine about Nathan not liking NE style chowder because it's mostly texture. (In canon Duke finds this highly offensive because they live in _Maine_ )


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as of posting this chapter I've finished writing _Fiery Kings_ which is just, sort of mind boggling.
> 
> And yes! FK is part of a series! Whose title comes from "Better Love" by Hozier.

...Perfect for such work, Michael thought to himself as he, Mr. Crocker, and Teagues made their way into the woods, the woman Mara managing to keep pace with them, despite her constant stopping to look behind them; as if she expected someone to jump out from behind a tree to surprise them.

“Peace,” Teagues’ voice softly broke the late autumn quiet. “We won’t be bothered.”

Mara blinked back tears and gave a small nod, showing a surprising amount of courage for her sex. But she didn’t speak.

In a way Michael found her courage heartening. He had prayed in church all day over whether this was a good act to do; asking God to send him a sign on if he should take part. He knew it was no black magic they were doing, but to willingly consort with Lilim was sin enough in his own mind.

Yet when he had exited the church at sunset he had heard a cock crow. He chose to take it as a good sign, that even in his doubt God was still with him; like Peter and his denials, he was doing God’s work.

The clearing came almost too quickly, Teagues’ had picked it out a few days before, near enough to the town that the magic would encompass it, but far enough away not to draw attention to itself—and according to his wife of no particular importance to her peoples.

In silence they got to work, although preparations did not take all that long. Mr. Crocker lit a fire, which reflected eerily in his silver eyes, while Teagues quickly sketched out the structure, a barn of all things, which would contain the spells. Then again the ritual as Mr. Crocker had explained it was simple enough, if hard work in the casting.

But Michael knew about hard work, knew the good that came of it, knew that sometimes even then blood needed to be shed. Just not senselessly.

Mara stood next to the fire, clutching her cloak around her, seemingly cold despite the heat. He felt an urge to go and try to comfort her, although what he would say escaped him—he did not think her a God fearing woman, or very religious either.  “We must be quick,” she finally spoke.

“Patience woman,” Mr. Crocker snapped at her, although Michael was not sure if it was from impatience at her or his work.

With nothing for him to truly do but bear witness Michael fell easily into prayer, mentally going through a rosary, fingers twitching as if moving beads.

“Driscoll,” Mr. Crocker’s voice broke him from his prayers, he opened his eyes—when had he closed them?—to see Teagues’ drawing on the ground between Mara and the fire, and atop it a knife. “We’re ready.”

Michael nodded, and stepping forward said the Lord’s prayer.

There was a few seconds of silence afterwards, filled only by the crackle of the fire, before Teagues stepped up in front of Mara. “I am Samuel Teagues and so long as there are Teagues in Haven we shall Guard it and you Mara.” He lifted his hand and smeared his palm against her forehead.

“I am Michael Driscoll,” he took Teagues’ place, grateful that his voice shook only a little. “And so long as my line keeps faith you will be remembered Mara.” The words felt almost bitter on his tongue as he rubbed at his eyes, collecting the tears that formed and anointing her forehead with them.

He stepped aside to let Mr. Crocker take his place. “I am Roy Albert Crocker,” he bent down and picked up the knife. “I bind you to Haven Mara,” he sliced open the palm of his hand. “So long as there is a Crocker in the world you will be bound to Haven. As you rejoice so will it, as it suffers so will you.” He pressed his palm to her forehead. “Our blood, sweat, and tears bind you, Mara Haven.” He cleaned the knife and handed it to her.

“I am Mara, and I will be Haven,” instead of her palm she drew the knife across her forearm. “Willingly I bind myself to this town. My suffering will be its suffering, and its joy will be mine. So long as I am bound those that reside in its boundaries will remain safe. So long as this bargain is kept I will be kept safe.” Of all the questions that had been asked of her since her arrival only last week no one had thought to ask what she wanted protection from, and now it seemed to late to pose such a question.

“The blood, sweat, and tears of those that build it have been given to me, and so I give blood back. For I am a fountain of Life and such bounties spring forth.” She tilted her arm over the drawing, letting her blood spill upon the charcoal, paper, and earth.

For a moment the world fell into utter silence, then it was as if something began pulling at Michael’s brain, drawing him into an alien whiteness.

“An African?” Mr. Crocker’s voice helped focus Michael. “Strange choice Teagues, I would have thought he’d be a native.”

There was indeed an African man standing before them, next to to Mara. He wore clothes as they did and stood perhaps as tall as Mr. Crocker…

-

“...‘What is my name?’ the African asked us.

“Teagues stepped up to him and said…” Nathan pauses for a moment, too surprised to continue. But he needs to. “And said…‘Howard.’”

You could have heard a pin drop in that moment. He, and Duke, look at Audrey, concerned—after she’s just found out her boss is part of this. Her face is white as a sheet and she looks like she might crush her flashlight.

He watches Duke embrace her, seemingly without thought, rubbing a hand up and down her back. Closing the diary Nathan sets it down to join them, grateful that Duke steps slightly to the side to he can touch Audrey too. The air feels chilly, the only warmth coming from the two of them where skin meets skin.

“So Mara,” her voice sounds shaky. “Mara is who I really am, the first.” Nathan’s not sure if she sounds relieved or panicked, perhaps both. “And I’ve been doing this since Haven was founded? So what? I’m Haven personified?” Nathan’s not even sure how _he_ feels about that idea.

“It makes a strange sort of sense,” Duke’s calm tone surprises Nathan; how can he be so calm right now? Perhaps he should be glad one of them is. “When the old school house was destroyed you were hurt too, if you’re...Haven then of course it getting hurt means you get hurt. And,” he frowns brow furrowed in thought. “Now that I think about it all construction stops whenever you’re around. I wanted to refurbish the Gull, get her wiring and stuff updated when Lucy was around and the request was denied until November.”

Much like on May Day Duke’s words make Nathan realize that yes, he’s right. It’s just something he’s somehow failed to notice before. “The faerie Queen _did_ call you ‘Guardian’, you keep Haven safe, and Haven somehow keeps you safe?” But from who? Or what?

Audrey sighs, her shoulder slumping and her features reflecting her apparent age—at least three hundred years old and it boggles his mind slightly. “Can we go? I, I want some time alone to think.”

He and Duke share a look, but they both nod. Nathan picks up the diary again, it could have more useful information. And together they leave the Archives.

“You know what’s really weird?” Duke’s question comes out of nowhere, and he continues before he or Parker even think to answer. “I’m the _youngest_ person in this relationship. Somehow that’s really messed up.”

Parker and he share a glance and they both burst out laughing.

-

It’s been a week since the Archive, since Audrey first had sex with Duke and Nathan, and she’s just grateful that work gives her something familiar to lean on. The Fourth came and went with nary a hitch, impressive fireworks and only one drunk and disorderly, and two kids trying to set off illegal fireworks.

This morning she comes in without Nathan in tow, he’d had something important to do this morning and had told her to go in without him. And she nearly spits out her coffee when she see Vince sitting in the center of the bullpen, sketchpad out, across from a young African-American woman who looks relieved and scared at the same time.

She snags Rebecca as she passes. “Who’s that? And what’s Vince doing here?” She finds she likes him even less now, he _knew_ what she would have found in the Archive, possibly even knew who Mara was, and he tried to keep it from her.

The lights in the station flicker, and for a second everyone’s attention is drawn upward, but the lights remain steady and it gets written off. “Her name’s Carrie Jones, she was mugged last night, Stan called Vince in to do the sketch.” Right, she’d asked a question. Audrey gave her head a small shake to try and dispel her anger, she could at least attempt to be professional.

...in her office where she didn’t have to see or interact with Vince at all. Muggings might be rare in Haven, but they’re not unheard of. Chief Wuornos’d probably assign it to one of the officers. Putting it from her mind she sets her coffee down and stares at the board she and Nathan have been working on; although to be fair it would be more accurate to say they’ve worked on it once and haven’t touched it since.

She stares at their sparse notes, the black handprint, like this time she’ll find some new angle that will give her the answer.

No such luck, just like the past one hundred times she’s stared at it. With a sigh she actually sits at her desk and gets to work.

-

It’s evening and Nathan feels odd, sitting at a table in the Gull, waiting for Duke; a _date_ for all intents and purposes.

Duke finally comes out from behind the bar, a blue bottle and two glasses in his hand. Nathan finds vague amusement passing through him, “this feels familiar.”

“Does it now?” It sounds like a tease as Duke sets the glasses down and wiggles the cork out. Barely a minute later both glasses are full of Spiritus. “I thought with the two weeks we’ve had we deserve a good drink.”

Nathan can drink to that, they clink glasses and he sips, enjoying the burn. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Duke put the cap back in. “Cutting us off already?”

“No,” a wan sort of smile crosses Duke’s face. “Saving it for Audrey on a later date. I think she needs a drink as much as we do.”

Right, of course she does. Maybe even more than they do; her whole world having been turned upside down. It makes him want to curl around her and keep her safe forever. Even though he knows she’d hate that. “Are you running out?” He knows it’s not a usual product for Duke to get, but he would have thought he’d have more than one bottle.

“Oh, no. Definitely not.” Duke shakes his head. “I’ve got two more bottles behind the counter, but at least this way I’m pretty sure we won’t drink it all.” He grins. “And if you’re really worried about not having more I know a guy who knows a guy who can get it practically wholesale.”

Now there’s a thought, angelic items wholesale. He snorts. “No, just curious.” This is supposed to be a ‘date’ but Nathan finds himself floundering on what to do, or is it just as simple as what they alway do, just with less ill will? For now he’ll stick with that, at the very least it’s a plan. To keep the conversation going he asks, “What’s it taste like to you?” He raises his own glass of Spiritus just in case Duke doesn’t get what he’s talking about.

“Blood,” Duke takes a sip. “And regained love.” It’s almost poetic, and it makes Nathan strangely melancholic; wishing that he could taste something other than burning.

“It just burns for me now,” he tells Duke. “But it used to be the sweetest thing in the world.” Not in a bad way, but just right—the perfect description of it, just right in every way you could want.

“Hell Nathan if it’s that bad why do you keep drinking it?”

Nathan thinks he shrugs. “Habit maybe. Or just nostalgia.”

“We’ve barely started drinking and we’re already maudlin, shit I think that’s a new record even for humans.” Duke’s comment makes Nathan laugh, which brings a smile to Duke’s face. “What’s even worse,” Duke continues, taking another drink. “I’m thinking I need to get back into politics.” He makes a disgusted face. “Fucking hate that. Gladhanding and asskissing,” He nearly downs the whole glass.

In commiseration Nathan slaps him on the shoulder. He’d never really concerned himself with politics—it hadn’t been necessary in heaven, and he hadn’t cared enough in hell, and on earth it hasn’t really interested him—he is however very sure that he doesn’t envy Duke in that prospect at all. Yet… “If you ever want some help…”

Duke’s smile does something strange to Nathan that he can’t quite pinpoint. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“It’s not a problem,” that’s what friends do for each other, and even if he’s not yet sure how _romantically_ interested in Duke his is he does want to be friends.  “How are you dealing with all of this?” Nathan might not feel the same way he does about Duke that he does Parker, but he does _care_ about the other man, and wants to look after him too.

Duke shrugs and drinks again. “I think I’m dealing better now than before. I’m not sure I’ve fully processed the whole Jennifer daughter thing, but I’m getting there?” Nathan can commiserate with that at least, his own feelings about his son—he doesn’t even know if the boy’s considered a nephilim or not—still a bit of a tangled mess. “But the Audrey-Haven thing, I don’t know,” Duke slumps into his seat. “I feel I should be more shocked by it than I am. It’s like,” Duke runs a hand through his hair and before Nathan realizes it he’s reaching out and taking that hand, feeling the warmth of it fill him as he rubs his thumb against the back.

“It’s like I already knew it,” Duke’s hand curls in Nathan’s but doesn’t pull away, and there’s a hint of a smile playing around on Duke’s lips. “Maybe my dad told me when I was younger but I blacked the memory out.” Duke shrugs. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the case. The less I remember about my dad the better in my mind.”

Nathan understands that at least.

“How about you?” Duke turns his hand over to weave his fingers in with Nathan’s doing it slow enough that if Nathan wanted he could pull his own hand away. Which he appreciates. “I mean you’ve seen a fuck ton more than either of us, but this still has to surprise you.”

Nathan’s smile is probably watery at best. “Yeah,” he agrees. “I never thought of having kids, I just have sort of been...floating along. But now I’ve got a son? One that I actually _knew_.” Nathan knows he’s lucky like that, no one here in town even knew about Jennifer but a lot of the older people remember James. “It’s just, a lot. And Audrey,” he squeezes Duke’s hand. “I’m still not sure how to process that. She was one thing and then she turned herself into something else? I’ve never heard of that before. Ever.” Sure when he was a full angel he could turn himself _into_ things, but he was still an angel. Completely turning yourself from possibly-human to the personification of a town? It sort of boggled his mind.

“We’ll get through it, we’ve still got time until October, and at least we’re all agreed that this time she’s not going in that Barn place.” He feels what might be Duke’s claws prickle against his skin.

“Never again,” He agrees. He’s sick and tired of losing her, and he wants to know his _son_ and to know Duke’s daughter. And if that means they have to face whatever caused Mara to bind herself to Haven for what could possibly be eternity. Then bring it, Nathan thinks. Together they could face down the world and come out on top.

He’s damn sure of that at least.

-

For once Duke’s actually at the Gull when it opens, usually he drifts in during the afternoon, if at all, but today he’ d been up at dawn, hell he even did some yoga. Not that he did it because he wanted to. He’s got unfun plans for the afternoon, and so wanted to get his base-touching at the Gull done early.  Maybe he should just bite the bullet and actually _run_ for mayor, elections are next year, and at least then all his talking would have more of a point. On the other hand the Brody’s still have their Glamour from when they took over as mayor when the Crocker ‘tradition’ fell apart, and that’s a helluva thing to go up against; vaguely he wonders if he did manage to win if the faeries would take that Glamour from them, or if it’s genetic now.

Carla gives him a weird look, clearly not expecting him at all, but Duke’s dealt with worse. “Well since you’re here,” she begins as if she’s the boss and he the employee. “You can go roust Jack from under the stairs.”

He gives an aggravated sigh, because seriously? But he still knows he’ll do it, because he’s that much a gentleman. Maybe he should promote Carla, he likes the Gull, but sometimes he’d just rather come in from time to time and cook, and not have to deal with thinks like paperwork or payroll.

Without a word he goes out, biting back another sigh when he sees Jack curled up on top of the newspapers. “Geeze Jack,” he gives the man a shake. “I should have you arrested.” This wouldn’t be the first time the man’s fallen asleep on Duke’s property, and while Duke’s more than willing to break the law he’s annoyed when people break this sorts of laws at _his_ places. Did no one respect a man’s land anymore?

Jack doesn’t quite wake, but he does roll over, revealing long gashes on his arms. “Fuck.” Duke doesn’t exactly recoil, because honestly he’s seen worse. But still he does fumble his phone slightly when he goes to call 911.

This was not the sort of day he signed up for damn it.

-

Audrey rubs the bridge of her nose. Only in Haven would that have some attacker that left no trace evidence. At least they know the connection, dreams. And while Nathan had some ideas for _what_ —Oneiroi, whatever those were—they still hadn’t found _why_ it was these people and not everyone. “And why didn’t you die?” She asks to the office at large, which contains just herself, Nathan, and Duke for the time being.

Nathan blinks, “huh?”

Duke, lying on the couch, gives an indulgent sort of smile. “I think she means everyone who’s had one of these dreams has died, except for you. And she wants to know why?”

“I know _that_ ,” Nathan rolls his eyes. And, Audrey realizes, he’s _bushing_. She finds herself wanting to know even more now. “And, well, I certainly wasn’t dreaming anything that could _kill_ me.” His blush deeps slightly.

“Hell Nathan,” Duke sits upright. “Were you having a wet dream?”

Nathan stares down at his desk and nods.

Feeling a little bad for him Audrey goes over and reaching out tilts his head back up. “Nothing to be ashamed of,” she reminds him. “But if you’re willing to share I’d love to hear it,” her smile turns a little wicked as she leans against his desk, her leg brushing his. Behind her she hears Duke approaching.

“You should tell us Nathan,” his voice is rough. And she’s fairly certain if anyone were to walk in at the moment she and Nathan might get written up for even _thinking_ of being indecent while at work. But she also finds she doesn’t care at the moment, her focus on Nathan and his wonderful blush.

Even though he can’t tilt his chin down his eye still glance back to his desk. Making him somehow seem younger, his eyelashes seeming to glow in the light of the room. “I was, at the office, except, well the bullpen was a classroom. Audrey was there at the front, and, and I was naked sitting at one of the desks.”

Somehow she’s already resisting the urge to squirm and he hasn’t even gotten to anything remotely ‘naughty’. Duke’s footsteps come around from the other side of the desk and she feels him turn her slightly so he can press against her back. And clearly she’s not the only one already highly interested.

“I kept getting the answer wrong, and so, so Audrey got her ruler and…” His own breathing’s picked up, and she can almost feel his pulse racing through his chin.

He doesn’t exactly need to continue, because she’s got a good idea of where this is going. “Nathan,” she says it pointedly, his gaze flying to her so quickly it gives her a little thrill. “Do you want me to punish you?” She has some vague experience with BDSM stuff through her FBI work—usually not good—but she’d have to certainly do more research if this is something he wants; and so that she knows how to do it _right_.

There’s only a thin ring of blue in his eyes, and he gives a shaky nod. “Yeah.”

Behind her Duke stiffens, his face burying itself in the crook of her neck, “fuck,” comes out, muffled but still clear.

She gives a throaty laugh, her finger’s on Nathan’s chin turning to stroking his jaw. “I think Duke should be there,” she tells him. “Holding you down so you can’t get away.” Duke’s grip on her hips tightens and she feels Nathan’s pluse jump. “So you can feel every last bit of what happens.”

Nathan bites his lip to hold back his sound, and she finds herself doing the same, Christ, this is not the time or place. “Would you like that Nathan?”

He looks at the both of them, teeth still in his lip. “Yes,” it comes out slightly muffled but the want in it makes her lean back into Duke. Relishing the feel of his cock against her back.

Her hand slides up to cup his cheek and she leans in. “Later then,” she kisses him. In this position her balance is a bit precarious, but she trusts Duke to not let her fall. “But first I need to make sure I do it right, so I don’t hurt you, too much.”

“I’ll heal,” he says, seemingly heedless of anything but what he wants. Which is wonderful, but also makes her realizes that Nathan might not be the best judge of ‘safe’.

Pulling her head away she shakes her head. ‘That’s not the point Nathan. I need to be comfortable with this too, and I’m _not_ comfortable just going into this blind, _I_ want to do it right.”

Nathan glances behind her, as if Duke will help convince her to do it his way. But she feels Duke shakes his head. “Barking up the wrong tree there. I’m with Audrey on this one.” One of his hands lets go of her hips and reaching out weaves itself into Nathan’s short hair and gives a tug. “I say let the lady do it her way or not at all.”  She watches as Nathan’s eyes shutter closed, leaning into Duke’s hand. “And anyways,” she can practically see the wicked smile in Duke’s voice. “The wait will make it much better.”

Which is when there’s a knock on the office door. Duke’s _gone_ , somehow ending back up on the couch in the blink of an eye and she pulls herself a bit further away from Nathan, so she can just appear like she’s been talking to him, nothing unusual—thank God Nathan’s sitting down. “Come in,” she calls out, she’s not sure she trusts Nathan’s voice at the moment.

Stan comes in, “Eleanor called, said you should come down to the morgue.” Ah, the life of a detective in Haven.

“Thanks Stan, we’ll head on over.” He leaves and she finds herself turning to Nathan with a smile. “No rest for us wicked it looks like.”

Nathan groans, and Duke gives a choked laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now to the last episode rewrite for Haven "Lay me Down", and I'm clearly focusing on the most important part of that episode right? *waggles eyebrows*


	23. Chapter 23

Duke resists the urge to give a frustrated sigh, that would be showing weakness, and that’s not the best line of attack at the moment. “Look, Monique.” He leans back in his chair. “I’ll be honest with you I’m not the best at this,” _that_ bit of weakness he will admit too however.

“I wouldn’t have guessed boss,” she snorts.

“I’m not your boss right now,” he reminds. Although it is a strange back and forth with that hanging over them. “I told you whatever agreement we come to here won’t affect your job, I just wanted to know where you stood.” Really she wouldn't have been one of his top choices because of the work thing, but Monique is also one of the older supernatural in Haven and she has a good bit of sway with certain parts. Fucking politics.

She leans back in her chair, her nails digging into the old carved wood. That’s another thing making him antsy, doing this in his father’s old study. But for some he knows it’s a plus on his side, that he remembers his history. A lot of deals were made in this office, first by his grandfather and then his father. “Look, Crocker, I’ll be straight with you,” her lips twitch at the joke. And since she acknowledged it he lets himself snort. “You’ve been good to me the last twenty years, and at least here in Haven no one’s tried to kill me yet, well except the winters.” It does sort of amaze him that a cold blooded creature would choose to make her home in Maine, but hey he’s not going to judge.

“So yeah, if push came to shove I’d probably side with you.” She pushes her black hair behind her ear. “But honestly I’d rather stay the fuck out of it. I’ve already had my fill of politics and turf wars if you know what I mean.”

He nods. “I’m not asking you to fight for me, just, keep an ear out for things you think might interest me, and let people know that I’m getting back in the game.” Just that fact alone will draw people to him he’s sure; there are a lot of families here in Haven that probably wish a Crocker was still mayor—although he’s decided he sure as hell isn’t running for office anytime soon.

She nods. “That I can do, I still have tomorrow off right?” Good thing he’s used to conversational whiplash.

He nods back, “yeah, John said he’d cover for you.”

“Great,” she smiles and stands. “Teri wanted to go down to Rockford and try out that new sushi place that opened up.”

“Have fun,” he tells her as he stands, and motions that he’ll walk her to the door.

She grins as she takes his arm. “Such a gentleman.”

“Habit,” he agrees. He walks her all the way to the door, he starts to go and open it for her before remembering she needs to cover up first. At least he stopped himself in time.

Monique quickly pulls on a trench coat, gloves, and cowl covering her tanned skin completely, and he opens the door just as she finishes settling the hood to cover her face. Just in time to see Audrey walking up the path, and thank Buddha, an excuse to takes a break. Monique and Audrey nod at each other as they pass. And when Audrey gets to him he happily pulls her into a hug and kiss. “You are a sight for sore eyes.” He tells her.

“It’s good to be appreciated,” she responds with a smile as he leads her inside. “What was that about?”

Out of short term habit he leads her to the office and collapses into the chair behind the desk with a groan. “Politics, I’m sick and tired of not knowing what’s going on in this town, and honestly the more control I can take from Vince the better at this point.”

He finds himself giving a pleased smile when Audrey drops into his lap, it does remind him a bit of Maggie, but only in a fond way. “Poor Duke,” she coos with false concern that makes him laugh. “But seriously, you don’t have to do this. We can handle everything,” she leans her forehead against his.

A sigh escapes him. “Yeah, I kinda do Audrey.” He darts in and gives her another quick kiss. “Vince thought I was on _his_ side. If I don’t start throwing my weight around what else are people going to assume about me? That I’m just going to let you go?” His grip tightens on her waist. “I don’t want that to happen, so yeah, making connections, throwing the family name around.”

“Oh Duke,” her expression makes him feel loved and he slumps into her hug. “I wish you didn’t have to do this.” Which is the best thing anyone could say to him at the moment.

He finds himself smiling as he pulls away. “It’s not as bad as it used to be. I mean I’m pretty sure I’ve dealt with worse when I was a captain, America’s got nothing on Old World snobbiness.” Not even the stuffiest supernatural here are as bad as Europe in the 1800s.

“Well we’re here for you when you need a break, hell you can cook us breakfast, lunch, _and_ dinner, if it makes you feel better.”

He laughs. “You’re gonna run me down to the bone with talk like that, I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But I could definitely do dinner tonight.” He leans his head back in, dropping his voice to a whisper. “A nice fire out on the beach under the stars, a big blanket, good food and drink.” He still hasn’t given her her ‘drink’ of the Spiritus; and he finds himself curious as to what she thinks of it.

Audrey gets that fond, loving expression again. “Sounds like a date. Just us or is Nathan invited too?”

Duke leans back in the chair, working to get the heavy wood balanced on two legs. “Just you and me I think.” he says finally. It is a bit of a headache and hassle to work out dates and who’ll be spending the night with Audrey on what days; then also trying to work out of they should do dates with all three of them. But even though they’ve barely started Duke feels like it’s worth it. “We can always do it again and bring Nathan along then.” It’s late summer and if the nights get a little chilly, well that’s just a damn fine excuse to cuddle.

“Alright,” Audrey agrees.

Her phone chirps and they both sigh a little. She pulls it out and answers. “Parker.”

“Wait Nathan, slow done. What do you mean it’s the papers?” She stands and he sadly lets her go, but still sneaking in a good goose. She jumps and swats his hand away. “No, just Duke being Duke.” She smiles. “Alright, I’ll be there soon.”

Hanging up she leans over the chair and kisses him. “Looks like we’ve finally got our big break. So maybe move our date to this weekend? Friday’s going to be the Nathan thing,” how blandly she says it, like that ‘thing’ isn’t going to be fucking hot. “But Sunday cold work.”

Standing up once again he offers her his arm. “Sunday works for me,” he agrees. Which gives him time to plan...and do paperwork—he’d hate for the police to break up their date, that would just fucking suck so he’ll fill out the damn paperwork, twice even if they’re really going to do it again with Nathan that time.

As he watches her leave he gets the feeling that things are finally looking up.

-

“I still can’t really believe I’m causing this,” Carrie sounds both frightened and amazed.

Before Nathan can try to comfort her Claire does instead. “Well it certainly doesn’t sound like you meant to be doing this, so don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Next to him Parker seems tense and he reaches out to take her hand. “Probably not how you were expecting your night to go.”

She gives a brief laugh. “No, but this is Haven, I’ve learned to be flexible.” Her grin is slightly salacious and he can feel a blush staining his cheeks.

“Okay,” Carrie’s voice pulls them from their little bubble. “I think I’m ready to start.”

Claire helps her make herself comfortable on the couch. “What I’m doing won’t feel like much,” Claire tells the other woman. “But I’ll only be talking a little of your fear at a time.” Nathan finds himself taken aback by that, he hadn’t thought that was an option. “Just enough to make sure you can do this.”

Carrie nods. “Okay, and thanks again.” Her eyes slide shut and she starts breathing in a more rhythmic manner.

Claire doesn’t say anything, just takes one of Carrie’s hands between her own.

Audrey’s hand feels tense in his own, it must be hard for her, sitting on the sidelines. The two, well three now, of them are usually in the thick of it; and he knows it makes _him_ a little antsy to just be standing by while this happens. Except none of them can do any more to help at the moment.

Nathan squeezes her hand, he’s here for her. “It’ll work out, and you did good.” It might be meaningless to actually say, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t _mean_ it.

She turns her head and smile at him, “thanks.” He finds himself slightly taken aback when she raises their hands and she kisses his. It’s a soothing sort of gesture, familiar, habitual; his insides tangle in a way that has nothing to do with nerves.

For the next few minutes everything seems to be going well, Carries doing alright, and it should all be over soon.

Except then it’s not.

Carrie starts twitching, and he’s not the only one who tenses. “Claire?” Parker sounds in control of it.

“If I take any more fear than this whole thing is pointless. It’s not exactly a _fear_ if you’re not afraid of it.” Claire doesn’t sound like she’s in any sort of pain or under more stress, but Nathan finds himself sure that a fruit basket isn’t going to be enough thanks.

Audrey lets go of his hand and joins the already crowded couch. “Carrie, I know you can hear me. Don’t forget you’re _safe_ , this is all in your head and they can’t hurt you unless you let them.” Her tone even calms _him_. It’s always amazing to watch her work her own brand of magic. “You _can_ do this Carrie, I believe in you.”

The thrashing doesn’t exactly stop, but it does calm some, and Carrie’s breathing becomes more regular again.

Even so the next few minutes are tense for him as he watches Parker continue to try and sooth Carrie and Claire takes her fear. But finally Carrie takes a deep breath, like she’s just come up from a dive, and opens her eyes. “I, I think I did it.” She gives a broad smile.

“Turn around,” Parker instructs softly. She pulls the other womans’ shirt up, revealing, to him and Claire, her bare back. But Audrey still stares at it for a few moments, clearly trying to make sense of something. “Looks like you might be right,” she finally says, letting the shirt drop. “We’ll certainly find out one way or the other come morning.” Somehow even with the slightly ominous words she manages to make it sound reassuring. “You can head home now, but call us if anything changes alright?”

Carrie nods and a minute later they’re alone.

“Thanks again for this Claire,” Parker gives her a tired smile and he finds himself going over to her and helping her upright.

“Not a problem,” Claire gives a bright smile as she walks them to the door. “It is sort of my job, if just an unusual part of it.”

He and Parker lean against each other like drunks as they head to the Bronco. “Your place or mine?” She asks as she climbs in. That’s right it’s their night together, although he’s not sure they’re going to do anything more than fall into bed and sleep.

“Mine,” it’s closer, and he can make pancakes in the morning—he always feels a little uncomfortable when cooking in her kitchen.

“Kay,” even though it’s not exactly legal she leans over and rest her head on his shoulder. He can’t find it in him to care, he’s sure Duke would be proud.

He drives in silence, the quiet and the empty road helping him sort of slip into a sort of meditative state. It’s peaceful and Nathan feels a sort of contentment he hasn’t felt in a very long time. He pulls into his driveway and together they make their way to his house, slipping off their shoes at the door they meander to the bedroom and stripping down fall into bed.

Soon he falls into a satisfied sleep, they did good today.

-

Duke stops by the station to bring Nathan and Audrey lunch, and when he enters their office he can practically feel the pride coming off them. He nearly asks why, but he doesn’t have to when he looks at their whiteboard. “So we know what they look like huh?” A sketch of of two guys, one that looks a bit like a bull, the other a little like a rat, is pinned up by the handprint that’s been there for weeks now.

“Yep,” Audrey says with a big smile as she takes the bag he hands her, leaning in for a kiss.

“It was kind of dumb luck,” Nathan says as Duke goes over and hands him his lunch, they kiss too, but it’s briefer than with Audrey—still he’ll take it.

Audrey rolls her eyes as she opens her bag. “I don’t even care, it’s a break and I’m gonna take it.” She peers into the bag. “Mmm grilled cheese and tomato soup. Thanks Duke.” He lets himself bask in the warmth of that.

“It’s kinda weird though, Haven having a criminal element again.” He says it offhandedly, even if it’s something that’s annoying and not good.

“You don’t count?” _Nathan_ teases. Wow, that sort of blows Duke’s mind. Audrey looks a little wonderstruck herself.

“Please,” Duke sniffs. “I’ve been doing it long enough I’m an _institution_ , not just a mere ‘element’.” Or at least he damn well better be, a hundred and fifty plus years is a long time to be smuggling. He’s definitely not some upstart like these two.

Audrey looks thoughtful as she chews her bite of sandwich. “So when was the last time Haven had a criminal element?”

He and Nathan share a look and nearly in chorus answer, “Maggie.”

She sort of shakes her head. “Seriously? Nearly a hundred years ago? That’s how long it’s been.” She dips her sandwich in the soup. “Also, I’m not sure I’ll ever get over the fact that I was a criminal in a past life.” And now she’s an FBI agent cum small town detective. “What did she do?”

Nathan shrugs and looks to Duke, who huffs. It’s probably a little painful for Nathan to admit he’d never once arrested Maggie—Duke on the other hand…

“She ran gambling at the Gull, helped me bring in shipments for the speako,” he shrugs. “I think if given the chance she would have started a protection racket with some of the businesses, but I’m not sure even Haven would have born that from well, her.” But now he has to wonder if it had happened what would have happened to _Maggie_ , when she went after people who hadn’t payed. Destroying bits of Haven would have hurt her, not that she’d’ve known that; but he’d like to think after the first two or so times she would’ve made the connection.

“Huh,” Audrey looks thoughtful, but before he can say anything else his phone beeps at him.

With a sigh he says, “looks like I’ve got to go.” There’s another round of absent kisses. “See you both tonight? The _Rouge_ right?”

Nathan flushes slightly and Audrey grins. “Yep, see you at six.”

-

Anticipation has been building in Nathan all day. It’s a sort of pain in it’s own right,  one that makes Nathan feel hyper aware of everything. Even moreso the few times Parker touches him—it hasn’t escaped his notice that she’s done it less today than she usually does, but he can guess why.

Together they drive to the _Rouge_ and Nathan wonders if he’ll even manage to eat. It’s been so long since he’s had something like this that now that he’s about to have it again he can’t bear it.  Even though he can’t actually feel it he’s sure he’s tense; a hound waiting for the right command.

“Nathan,” Parker’s voice has him drawing up short as they step onto Duke’s slip. “Breathe,” her voice is full of amusement and patience.

He nearly snaps back that he is breathing, which just goes to show how tense he is. For a brief second he can feel her thumb on his neck, as her hand slides down. “I know you want it now,” her voice keeps it’s patient tone, “but you’re just going to have to wait until after dinner. I’m not going to tell you to relax,” there’s a hint of a smile on her face. “But take the time to enjoy yourself alright?” He gets a little off balanced which must mean she gave him a slight push. “Don’t just rush into it because it’s been a while, savor the whole night.”

The small speech takes him slightly aback, not at all what he expects from her. Even so he’s not sure how well he’ll be able to follow that advice, good as it is. “I’ll try,” he says tentatively as they climb the gangplank. The other side of the slip seems woefully empty with the _Amphitrite_ tucked away in her winter cove; yet Nathan also feels somewhat touched that Duke asked for their help in putting her away.

“That’s all I can ask,” she responds, pulling him from his musings. “Ahoy the boat!” She calls out much more cheerfully. “Two for dinner if you’ll have us Captain Crocker.”

Nathan chokes back a laugh.

Duke’s head pops out of the main hatch. “You are both ridiculous, come on dinner’s hot and ready.”

He lets Parker take the lead, already trying to ‘savor’ it all, slowing his step, trying to take deeper breaths, noticing the little details of how Duke and the stateroom both look newly cleaned, how delicious the food smells.

“Korean short ribs,” Duke starts to list off as Parker lightly pushes him into the bench seat. “With kimchi, homemade from a recipe that was given to me by a very wonderful Korean grandma, Buddha bless her soul. Fried rice, and even though it’s really Spanish and not Japanese, I tempuraed some vegetables too.”

Parker slides into the spot next to Nathan, and even though there’s clothes separating them he could swear he feels the warm press of her hip. “It sounds delicious,” she tells Duke as he leans down for a kiss. It is odd to watch them, but, Nathan thinks, not in a bad way. Still when they pull apart Parker’s got a thoughtful look on her face.

“What?” Duke sounds curious.

“Just a thought,” Nathan finds himself as confused as Duke when she stands back up again. She gestures for him to do the same, and, still confused, he does. “Take off your pants,” she sounds so agreeable about it that it takes his brain a few seconds to process.

He stares at her, “huh?” Not the most articulate, but really she’s just confusing him even more right now.

“I’m pretty sure that’s _not_ what they mean when they say bottomless dinner.” Duke chimes in.

It startles a laugh out of Parker, who shakes her head and smiles. “I was telling Nathan he needed to enjoy dinner, and I thought that might be easier if he could _feel_ too, and I don’t exactly want to hold hands all night.” She shrugs. “So pants.”

Now Nathan’s the one shaking his head and laughing softly, “you could just have me take my shoes and socks off.” He points out.

“Spoilsport,” Parker pouts at him. “But I guess that works too. So long as Duke doesn’t try and turn it into a game of footsie,” she eyes him speculatively.

Duke huffs. “See if I hand feed you dessert now.” Now bare footed Nathan slips back into his seat.

Parker bat her eyelashes at Duke’s back as the other man starts bringing food over. “That sounds wonderful, I’m sure I could make it up to you.” She sits down and Nathan watches as her own shoes and socks go flying into a corner.

Her feet are chilly on his when they touch. But that pales in comparison to feeling everything around them. The slight rock of the _Rouge_ , the soft pressure of the cushion they’re on, the worn smooth texture of the table.

The food somehow smells even better as Duke sets it on the table, the other man slips into the seat across from them—which feels strange to Nathan for reasons he can’t quite pinpoint, especially when they can’t _all_ fit on the same side—his foot is somehow even colder than Parker’s and Nathan yelps softly.

But still, Parker’s right, eating is a whole difference when he can feel it too. The thick stickiness of the barbeque sauce—which seems to get _everywhere_ on him, Parker and Duke more than happy to help clean him up—the crunchy crisp of the vegetables,  the slight slippery texture of the kimchi.

And as they eat and talk and have a good time themselves Nathan finds that he _is_ relaxing and even enjoying himself. The excitement of _later_ still buzzes in his mind and in his belly, but it’s not all that important, he finds, in the face of _now_. It’s...different, and somewhat intriguing.

Inevitably there’s no more food left to be eaten, and the three of them just sort of sit there for a few moments in silence; Nathan vaguely wondering how the hell he’ll manage dessert when he feels so _full_.

Soon however Parker stands. “I feel like I should put to a vote us talking like a short nap or something, I feel like if I move too fast at the moment I’m gonna burst. And that’s the rule right? You’ve got to wait at least thirty minutes after eating before you have sex?” She narrows her eyes at Duke. “This is your fault,” she tells him cheerfully. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were fattening us up for nefarious purposes.”

“What can I say,” Duke slides out of his seat with a grin. “I do like eating. And that’s swimming Detective Parker.” He looks at Nathan with an arched eyebrow. “What’d’ya think Nathan? Can you wait another thirty or so minutes?”

Nathan pulls himself up to standing with a groan—it’s mostly for show their feet having taken sensation with them. “To be honest I’m not even sure I can _move_ more than that right now.” He’s already waited an hour and a half, what’s thirty or so more minutes? Although he’s not sure he can _sleep_ per se with anticipation curling in him. But it would be nice to just curl up with them for a while.

“Excellent,” Parker turns and starts making her way to Duke’s bed, shedding clothes as she goes. He and Duke share a glance and follow, their own clothes joining her trail.

In bed Duke traces the strap of her very pretty lace bra. “You sure you can sleep in this?”

Parker rolls her eyes. “It’s not as uncomfortable as it looks, I’ll be fine,” she leans in and kisses Duke’s nose; then does the same to Nathan. “Now come on, we agreed on sleep.” She closes her eyes in emphasis.

Warm fondness fills Nathan as he looks at her. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Duke’s eyes slide shut as well. And despite his earlier thought a few minutes later he’s falling asleep himself.

Only to be woken what feels like barely a minute later, by nails scratching down his chest.

Opening his eyes he sees Parker leaning over him, a wicked sort of smile on her face. It’s her nails dragging up and down his chest. “Have a good nap?” He finds himself so focused on her that he barely notices the warm press of Duke’s fingers against his hip.

“Y, yeah,” he croaks out; his voice already hoarse.

“Good,” Parker grins at him, pushing herself fully upright and moving to straddle him; and if he wasn’t half-hard already he certainly would be now. “Because we’re going to have a lot of fun and it’s good to be well rested.” The heat of her feels just as good _on_ his cock as it does around his cock and he finds himself groaning slightly.

A sharp pain as Duke tweaks his nipple pulls him back. “Focus Nathan,” Parker chastises. “We’ve got one or two more things to talk about before we really get started.”

He groans again, this time in a vague annoyance.

This time the pinch is in his armpit, and it actually kind of _hurts_. “Nathan,” now Parker sounds displeased. “I told you I wanted to do this right. So, the safe word is fish.”

“Fish?” He blinks at her uncomprehendingly.

She shrugs. “It’s easy to say, and unless one of you had a fling with mermaid I don’t know about, not exactly sexy.”

Next to him Duke shifts. “Seriously?” Nathan finds himself biting back a smile at Audrey’s surprise.

“What can I say?” Duke doesn’t sound ashamed. “He was hot and good with his mouth.” For a third time Nathan groans.

Parker rolls her eyes. “I would gag you but then we’d have to figure out something else and I don’t want to bother with that right now.” It’s the first sign of impatience he’s seen from her and he’s glad for it. But it does awe him how good Parker’s self control can be.

“So ‘fish’, don’t forget it and _use_ it Nathan, I know you’re a fallen angel and can take your licks, but if I’m doing something you don’t like I want to _know_.” Her expression is fierce, and he finds himself stunned that he can bear the brunt of it.

All he can do is stare at her for a few seconds before he finally nods. “Okay, fish.” Safe words are something he’s only vaguely known about the past few years, they’re certainly nothing he and Sarah ever thought about. But he respects Parker and respects her way of doing things, even if he’d rather just _do_ it.

Parker smiles and rubs against him in a now familiar teasing fashion, the fabric of his boxers making him hiss as it moves. “Good,” she climbs off him, making him whimper and move to follow; touch doesn’t leave him because Duke’s still against him but he wants her back on top, wants her rubbing against him.

She makes a chiding sound and he freezes. “Thing number two, you can make as much sound as you want, but I don’t want you moving unless I tell you too alright? And Duke’ll help with that.”

“Yep,” Duke’s laugh is right against his ear.

“Now come on,” she lightly slaps his thigh making him twitch. “Stand up.”

He stands, even without touch he feels more aware, as if his body’s eagerness is now a phantom limb.

Audrey stands before him, hands on her hips; and part of him just wants to fall on his knees before her right then and there. But he resists, because she told him not to. “Underwear off.” As he slips his boxers off he wonders if all her commands are going to be short and to the point, if so he hasn’t quite decided if he likes it or not.

She looks her fill, and Nathan’s sure if he looks down he’ll see himself growing more aroused, but he keeps his gaze on her. Finding himself pleased when she nods. “Now turn around.” When he does he sees that Duke’s changed position as well, his back now against the wall, long legs stretched out across the bed. Parker’s hand rests against his back, feeling warm against the cool air around them; he shivers. “Go lie on the bed, your head in Duke’s lap,” her hand slides down to goose his ass and he finds a smile twitching at his lips. “You should have your legs over the side, you can position them however is most comfortable.”

As Nathan moves Duke slides a bit more towards the far side of the bed, so that Nathan can actually stretch out across it like Parker instructed. Duke’s boxer-briefs are soft against his cheek, and it’s a little weird to feel Duke’s erection against his shoulder, but it’s not as offputting as he feared it would be.

He moves his legs until he’s comfortable, feeling an interesting stirring of happiness when Duke hands Parker a pillow for Nathan’s knees. “Okay,” he tells her. He does his best to breath and stay relaxed, he knows tensing will make the spanking hurt more, but he’s sure if he does that Parker will stop. It helps that one of Duke’s hands lightly glides up and down his spine, the gentle movement soothing in its own right.

“You know,” Parker’s voice is low and warm. “You actually have a really nice ass.” He can almost picture the smile on her face. Her own hands join in with Duke’s, lightly gliding over his ass and thighs. He makes a sound of protest, and fights the urge to move.

“Good,” her hands leave and barely a second later one cracks against his ass. It’s probably not as hard as she could swing, but it feels so _good_. A pleased sigh escapes him and he feels his fingers curl in the sheets.

Despite his earlier resolve he does find himself tensing, eagerly awaiting the next strike. Surprised when it doesn’t come right away. Instead one of Parker’s fingers touches the small of his back and traces an idle design. “What do you think Duke? Think he can take some more?”

Duke’s soft laughter shakes him. “You know me Audrey, I’m always into giving you both more.” All the while he’s kept up his hand’s movements and Nathan’s starting to find it delightfully _distracting_. “Can you take more Nathan?” Duke’s other hand weaves into Nathan’s hair and gives a soft tug.

“Yes,” it comes out strangled and wrecked, but he doesn’t care.

 _Smack_ , this time she hits slightly lower and it’s so hard not to arch and thrash. Duke’s other hand, as if sensing that, slides down to rest firmly in the small of his back, pressing down slightly. “Better,” he somehow manages to say.

He’s rewarded with another smack, this one on his other side.

This time she doesn’t stop, and oh, he’d forgotten how good this could be. Warmth spreads through him, making him feel even more relaxed and eagerly awaiting the next hit. The longer it goes on the more he finds it’s another sort of pain to not move; one he’s never experienced before. Which just makes his pleasure even greater.

Orgasm slides through him, turning his head he moans into Duke’s hip; and he’d probably be more embarrassed if he weren’t so damn pleased.

“Fuck,” Duke hisses, and Nathan feels distantly amused that he’s not the only one being wrecked by this. “That was hot.”

Parker gives a rich laugh as she lands one more strike. He feels the bed shift as she climbs on and he manages a smile as her lips kiss his shoulder. “That was good Nathan, thank you.”

Somehow he manages to turn his own head again. “Mmmthank _you_ ,” he slurs, going easily when Duke rolls him over. The sheets make him twitch when they scratch slightly against his tender skin, but he likes that.

“You gonna fall asleep on us Nate?” Duke sounds warmly affectionate; the nickname catching what little of Nathan’s conscious mind is still active off guard.

He struggles to open his eyes and manages a smile. “Don’ know. Too happy.”

Audrey’s laugh makes his eyes flutter. Although he still sees her shake her hand, “I think when we do this again I’m gonna need something, my hand hurts like hell.” Another sort of happiness fills him upon hearing ‘again’.

Somehow he manages to lift his own hand and grab hers, bringing it to his lips he kisses each fingertip, ending on her palm. “Better?”

“You are both ridiculous,” Duke grouses, while Parker smiles.

“Better,” she agrees.

There’s some more manhandling as Duke moves out from underneath him completely and moves them all so they’re laying with the longer side of the bed. Parker pulls the sheets and blankets over them.

Already Nathan can feel his body healing the damage done, and he lets himself feel some regret over that. But that’s the way it always has been and always will be; and anyways that pales in comparison to the fact that the pain _happened_.

Nathan closes his eyes and lets his mind float, half listening to Parker and Duke talk softly about their date tomorrow night—it had surprised Nathan to no end when Stan had actually mentioned that Duke came in to fill out _paperwork_ for a beach fire.

Satisfaction of a sort he’s unused to feeling slips in without him noticing and curls around him as he slips fully into sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

Nathan’s awakened by his phone ringing, the sound making him groan as he rolls over to answer it. If it were a crime he’d be hearing it over the radio, not by phone, so there’s that at least, but that still leaves some good reasons why someone might be calling him at, he squints at the clock on his bedside table, 3:44 AM in the morning.

“Mmhello?” Next to him Parker shifts in her sleep, she’s a much lighter sleeper than Sarah ever was and he’s sure she’ll be awake soon enough; he feels sorry for her.

“Nate?” It’s Lizzie, she sounds scared and it vaults him into complete wakefullness.

He moves to climb out of bed, which wakes Parker fully, she reaches out for him and grabs his arm, so when his feet touch the floor he hisses at the chill. “I’m here Lizzie, what’s wrong?” She wouldn’t be calling at nearly four in the morning if something weren’t the matter. It ratchets him up to high alert.

“There’s,” he hears her take a deep, hiccuping breath,  “something’s wrong with daddy.”

Nathan’s blood runs cold. The world returns to normal as Parker lets go of him, they both get up and start dressing, he hasn’t needed to say anything and already she knows something’s happened. He pulls his phone away and taps the speaker button so she can hear too. “What’s wrong honey?”

“I’m,” he can tell Lizzie’s trying to be strong and it fills him with a sort of pride; Dwight’s raised her well. “I don’t know uncle Nate,” and things must be really bad if she’s fallen back on that. “He was fine when he went to bed, but now, now he’s...he’s hamasked, and he left the house a few minutes ago…” _Now_ she’s crying.

Nathan finds himself automatically making soothing sounds, while the rest of him is frozen to the spot. He’d seen Dwight go full berserker once, and it had been enough that Nathan would rather not see it again. But it seems he doesn’t have a choice.

Parker takes the phone from his unresisting fingers. “Lizzie it’s me Audrey, are you in a safe place? Are you alright?”

“Ye-yeah.” It’s a small relief.

“Okay, good.” Parker’s touching him again, her thumb rubbing soothing circles against the pulse on his wrist. “Can you stay there until we come and get you? Will you be safe if your dad comes back?” He’s glad one of them can focus on those things—then again, it’s what she’s _supposed_ to do.

There’s a brief second of silence, then “yeah. Daddy can’t hurt me while I’m in the circle.” Another relief.

“Alright,” Parker’s voice turns soothing. “Stay there and we’ll come and get you as soon as we can alright?”

“O, okay.” Lizzie sounds relieved and Parker hangs up.

“Nathan.”

He blinks and shakes his head,  he needs to focus, but it’s hard, fear’s a living thing in him and he can’t believe Parker’s keeping a level head about her—then again she doesn’t know how bad berserkers are.

Parker sighs. “Nathan, are there  procedures for this sort of thing?”

Right, procedures, work, he, he can focus on work. Somehow he manages to shake off her hand and picks up the walkie talkie, “Charlie,” it does feel strange to not say ‘Laverne’ but she doesn’t work graveyard.

“Yeah Nathan? This is a surprise.”

“We’ve got a code red, Alpha level.” His voice shakes slightly as he says it, in the whole time he’s lived in Haven they’ve never gone into full lockdown before. Seemingly from a great distance he hears Parker talking to Duke.

On the other end of the line Charlie’s quite for a few seconds. “Seriously?” The man sounds almost shocked. “Why?”

“Dwight,” explanation enough.

-

Duke doesn’t like being up at the ass crack of dawn—unless of course he’s up at that time because he wants to be—but he likes even less the reason this time.  Something’s happened to Dwight and he’s going on a rampage somewhere in town.

He decides to run rather than drive when he hears the old air raid sirens going off  to remind people, just in case they didn’t already know, that the town’s in lockdown. The cold air of late September bites at him, reminding him just how close they are to October.

It’s easy enough to catch Audrey and Nathan’s scents and follow them, let them distract him. The police station is empty for all intents and purposes. But they’re waiting for him on the steps, once he reaches them Audrey smiles and hands him a cup of coffee.

“You’re amazing,” he ducks down to kiss her cheek. Caffeine might not wake him up in the same way it does regular humans, but it’s enough that he feels more awake, and it does wonders for warming him up. “So, how are we doing this?” Dwight’s one of the heaviest hitters in town, and Duke’s not sure he can out brawn the other man.

Audrey huddles into her, well Nathan’s, jacket—a part of him is jealous that he can smell sex on them, but he’ll get his own times with them, even if he and Nathan spend most of theirs hanging out at the moment. “Smart,” she finally says. “We don’t want to hurt him anymore than we have to, but he needs to be taken care of before anyone gets hurt.”

“We need to get Lizzie first,” Nathan reminds. There’s a faint stink of fear on him, not that Duke’s judging, a berserker’s enough to make _any_ sane being freak out.

“Right,” Audrey nods. “That first, maybe she can help us think of a way to snap Dwight out of it.” It’s a start, and Duke’s not going to knock it. If push comes to shove he knows he can throw himself into the line of fire and survive better than they can at least.

Which might happen sooner than he thought it would, if the people approaching them are any indication. “Did either of you drum up a posse?” He would have thought the three of them go more the hunting route, only as much as they needed.

“No,” Duke can practically hear Nathan narrowing his eyes with that tone.

Audrey curses, and it’s easy to understand why; leading the group is Vince—Duke’s not sure if that’s better or worse than the Rev—which  is...baffling. Sure they’re certain he’s been hiding something but they’d only thought he was withholding information, not whatever the hell this is. He recognizes a lot of the faces, other supernaturals, some of whom he’s talked to in the past few days—and they look a little uneasy seeing him with Audrey, good—he wonders if they told Vince that; if Vince is even the actual leader.

She takes a few steps down and crosses her arms. “Go home,” Duke’s pretty sure he imagines Haven trembling at her displeasure.

“Dwight is one of ours,” Vince’s reasonable tone sets Duke’s teeth on edge, and he’s not the only one from the way Nathan tenses next to him. “We’ll deal with him.”

“How in hell’s name do you think you’re going to control a _berserker_?” Nathan sounds incredulous.

Jordan steps up next to Vince and strips off her gloves, as sure a declaration as anything. “We have our ways.” At least now they know why Jordan was down in the Archive, she’s part of whatever this is.

“Yeah,” Duke snorts. “Inflict pain on the man who can’t feel it at the moment, great idea.”

“What puppy,” Jordan takes a step forward holding a hand out. “Scared?”

“ _Enough_.” Now he knows he didn’t imagine that tremor. Audrey’s in fine ‘protect Haven’ form and he hopes none of that anger is for him. Even though he can’t see her back he can picture her frown. “What do you mean ‘one of yours’, what the hell are you?”

There’s a moment of silence, and the lights flicker behind them. Duke spares a brief moment to contemplate if the reason Haven’s doing what it’s doing is because Audrey’s aware of her connection to it now, or if it would have done this regardless.

Finally though Vince steps forward, shoving his sleeve up to reveal a tattoo, a mark Duke’s seen countless times before, on people, on places, hell, on _headstones_. Yet he’s somehow never made the connection that it might _mean_ something; from the way Nathan tenses and curses next to him he’s not the only one. “We’re the Guard, “Vince speaks. “We keep Haven safe, we look after the supernaturals when you’re not here, and help make sure that nothing gets out of Haven about us.”

Which is all well and good but, “then why stay hidden?” If that’s all they do then why hasn’t he heard about them before. And how? He’s  lived here long enough that he should know all of Haven’s secrets, yet somehow it’s managed to keep this from him?

Vince stays silent, and from the way Nathan tenses he’s sure that the other man’s about to join him in his questioning. But before he can Audrey speaks again.

“The longer we stand here talking the more likely someone’s going to get hurt. If your...Guard are willing to risk their lives then, yes, you can help. But,” she draws herself up, seeming to tower over everyone despite being shorter than nearly all of them. “If I catch even a _whisper_ of someone about to permanently harm Dwight. I will _not be pleased_.” The lights that flank the doors to the station flare before the bulbs shatter.

“And if you’re not willing to listen to Nathan, Duke, or myself head home now. Because _we_ are the ones in charge, no Vince or any of the rest of you.” Buddha and gods above but she’s wonderful.

The Guard look uncomfortable, sharing glances and shifting restlessly. Vince looks constipated. “Fine,” the man grudgingly says. “We’ll follow your lead.”

Audrey gives a sharp nod. “Good. Duke you take half, Nathan the other. Find Dwight and try and heard him towards the Brambles,” it’s a good idea, at least there no one but them will get hurt. “I’ll get Lizzie and meet up with you there.”

“Alright,” Duke agrees, some part of him actually _excited_ for this, even if it is Dwight.

Nathan looks like he might protest, before his shoulders slump in defeat. “Fine.” He glances at Duke then flicks his eyes towards the Guard.

Right, how the hell are the splitting them up? Duke begins to amble down the stairs. “Do you want the team with Vince or not?” Duke’s sure he can deal with everyone else, even if a lot of these people dislike the Crockers on principle, as they have made clear with his talks with some. Vince...he’s something else entirely—especially considering last week. On the other hand there are the people here he’s talked to that’ve seemed open to the idea of throwing their weight behind him, but he also has to wonder if that’ll change now that they know he’s backing Audrey. Well that’ll just sort out the wheat from the chaff.

“I’ll take him,” which probably somehow proves that Nathan really is an angel. “But you’ve gotta get Jordan.” And there’s the ‘fallen’ part.

“Fine,” he can deal with her, so long as she doesn’t get any ideas to touch him.

After five minutes of haggling, or at least that’s what it feels like, they’ve got their groups and are heading out. Duke extends his senses as far has he can as he walks ahead of everyone, fine tuned for any sense of Dwight.

Then there’s a roar that even a deaf man could hear, and well, what other choice do they have but to go towards it?

-

Audrey jumps in her seat when she hears the roar—Dwight, it has to be—but she forces herself to stay as calm as she can, working herself into a panic won’t do anyone good; let alone what might happen to Haven itself with the outburst. She’d managed to hide it, but what she did at the station scares her; she didn’t think she could _do_ that.

She hopes it’s only because Haven’s in danger, and not going to be a regular occurrence, because Haven getting a little shake every time she’s annoyed is going to get real tiring real fast.

 _Focus_ , she grips the steering wheel and puts her eyes on the road, there’s no one else on the street but her, which is eerie, but for all she knows someone might think the lockdown didn’t apply to them and they could do whatever they wanted.

Reaching Dwight’s house sooner than she expects Audrey gets out slowly, gun at the ready. It might not do anything to Dwight, but it certainly makes her feel a tiny bit more in control.

The door’s wide open and Audrey approaches it with caution, she doesn’t think Dwight would have come back, as far as she knows he can’t move _that_ fast, but someone else could be in the house.

Her eyes scan the rooms as she enters, ears straining for any sound that seems out of place. Finding nothing she finally calls out, “Lizzie?” It’d take too much time to search the whole house, although she’s willing to do it if she has to.

Climbing up the stairs she calls out again.

This time she hears a faint response coming from above her. The attic then.

She finds the ladder to it easily enough, and holstering her gun she climbs. When her head’s at floor level she scans the room, relieved to see there’s no one in it but Lizzie, huddled in the corner.

Hurrying over to the young girl she’s caught off guard to see that there’s an elaborate circle carved into the floor. “Lizzie?” She’s not sure if she can cross it or not; if it’s strong enough to stop a berserker then the answer’s probably ‘no’.

Luckily she doesn’t have to, Lizzie spotting her and launching herself out of the circle towards her. Audrey nearly staggers at the weight as Lizzie basically tackles her. And even if she’s only so-so with kids her arms wrap around the girl on instinct, rubbing soothing circles on her back as Lizzie cries.

She lets Lizzie get it out of her system before pulling away. “Come on” she does her best to give a comforting smile. “Let’s go find Duke and Nathan and then help your dad.”

Lizzie nods and they head out.

Audrey wishes she could call Duke or Nathan, see where they’re at, as she drive towards the Brambles but she can’t, afraid that a call might distract either one of them, and while she doesn’t want Dwight hurt, she wants Nathan and Duke hurt even less.

To distract herself she quizzes Lizzie on berserkers, hoping to find a clue on how they might be able to stop Dwight. But unless someone in the Guard, or Duke, or Nathan, know how to make a ‘sleep thorn’ she’s not feeling optimistic.

Her gut’s tying itself in knots as she parks her her car, she and Lizzie climbing out. Taking the girl’s hand she leads them in.

A few minutes later she finds someone, she thinks her name is Sophie, who points to the right when Audrey whisper-asks where Nathan is.

He’s standing stock still when Audrey finally finds him. “Hey,” she whispers as she and Lizzie go to him. “Where’s Duke?”

“Herding Dwight,” Nathan responds just as quietly. He turns to face them and gives a little smile to Lizzie. “We’ll have you dad back to himself in no time,” he crouches down and Audrey finds her heart warming a little.  “It’ll be okay.”

Lizzie rubs a hand across her face. “Promise?”

For the next few seconds they seem to be caught in a perfect bubble of silence as Nathan glances at her, pain and uncertainty in his face. But when he looks back at Lizzie there’s only calm certainty. “I promise.” Part of her wishes he wouldn’t, because even though they want to save Dwight they might not be able to; and she doesn’t know if she could look at Lizzie after promising that and failing.

Not that she gets much of a chance to dwell on that, what with the crashing sounds that are coming their way. “Think that’s Duke.” No time to linger of ‘what if’s and ‘maybe’s anymore.

-

Duke runs.

Bizarrely grateful that at least with the way he’s crashing through the undergrowth he doesn’t have to worry about whether he’s leaving a clear trail for Dwight to follow or not. Definitely enough blood being spilled, especially after that blackberry patch.

He’d sent the rest of his ‘team’ on ahead to meet up again with Nathan’s, no one else was fast enough to keep up with Duke when he really got to it.  It feels a lot like the full moon usually does, eagerness pounding in his veins as he charges headlong towards his goal.

And Dwight, despite the fact that he’s not as fast, is keeping up pretty well; it probably helps that Duke’s purposefully taking a route that has more obstacles.

If Dwight weren’t out of control Duke might actually enjoy himself.

He catches Audrey and Nathan’s scents on the wind—together smokey sweet and enticing—and angles more towards them, as the breeze rushes past him he catches the stink of fear from everyone else. He just hopes that the Guard have some self control, someone accidently getting off the first shot is exactly what they _don’t_ need; Maybe they should’ve gotten Claire, he could see her powers being useful at the moment.

Now that he’s closer Duke aims for the clearer path, letting himself pick up more speed and putting a greater distance between him and Dwight, just so he can catch a breather and they can at least have a few seconds of conversation.

Even though he smelled them, _seeing_ Nathan and Audrey is a relief. Slowing down he comes to a stop in front of them. “I don’t know how much time we have,” are the first words out of his mouth.

“Do either of you know what a sleep thorn is? Or how to make it?” Well good to know that at least Audrey gets it. He and Nathan share a look, then shake their heads, for Duke at least this is the first time he’s heard about it.

“Shit,” Duke feels her. “Okay,” she turns. “Vince,” she calls out. No use in trying to hide the fact they’re here. Dwight probably already knows, and just thinks they’re more enemies to be fought. “Do you know what a sleep thorn is?” The sounds of Dwight approaching get louder.

Vince frowns for a moment, thinking. “Yes,” well that’s a fucking relief. “But I’ll need some time to make it.”

Time’s something they’re short on. Especially with Dwight finally reaching them. All eyes turning to look at him.

Despite the fact they’ve been running through brambles, and branches, and the like his skin’s unmarked. Black eyes dart around, clearly taking them all in as he breathes heavily, sweat almost pouring from him. His head whips around, not caught off guard by the number of people surrounding him, but, in Duke’s mind at least, trying to figure out who to attack first.

Making a choice, one he might not even live long enough to regret, Duke bridges the gap between him, Audrey, and Nathan. Leaning in he kisses Nathan, filling it with all the love he’s had for him. When he pulls away he swoops down to Audrey, giving her the same sort of kiss. “You’d both better save the both of us,” he can’t even tell what emotion fills his voice as he speaks.

Turning back around he rolls his shoulders, he expects protests, but he’s not even sure that Nathan and Audrey have processed what he’s doing. He inhales, then exhales.

Reaching inside he grabs hold of that animal part of him and charges. He knows it might kill him, but he’s realizing that he _would_ die to save this town, save Audrey and Nathan. He feels his body shift as he lunges. _Sorry I didn’t get to love you both as much as you deserve. Sorry I didn’t ever get to meet you Jennifer._

-

As if on instinct Audrey’s hand grabs Nathan’s own. Meaning he feels his heart leap up into his throat as he watches Duke shift and charge at Dwight. Feels terror rush through his body. His gut twists, his mind insists he _do_ something. And he can’t ever remember a time when he’s felt this...frantic; not even when he’d been Falling.

It’s probably just as bad for Audrey, maybe even moreso, because if she goes in there and gets hurt? Who knows what might happen to Haven.

Duke and Dwight crash into each other, and in some awful way it’s beautiful, reminding him of stories from centuries ago when gods clashed with gods. Almost distantly he can hear Vince muttering to himself, even more faintly the scratch of pen on paper.

But he can’t look away from the fight.

There’s a grinding pop as Duke whales on Dwight, but only seconds later Duke goes flying. Hitting a tree hard enough that both he and Audrey cry out—the rest of the Guard are tensely silent, desperately terrified and wondering what will happen next.

Relief nearly bowls Nathan over when Duke gets up and charges again, if slower than before. But it quickly becomes worse. With Duke slowing down he doesn’t have as much of an advantage, meaning for every hit he lands Dwight gets two or three.

“Lizzie,” Vince’s voice is almost a blasphemy. “I need some of your blood."

While the terror doesn’t exactly go away all his ‘physical’ sensations vanish as Audrey lets go to help Lizzie. Despite what might be the ‘cure’ almost at hand Nathan can’t make himself look away. Somehow managing to feel his heart ache every time Duke gets hurt. It’s what he feels whenever _she_ goes away and oh stars...

He loves Duke.

And the man might die without ever know it.

“Nathan!” Audrey’s shout makes him jump, he looks down to see she’s got a piece of paper in her hands. “You need to put this in Dwight’s mouth.” She thrusts the paper into his unresisting hands.

“I,” the words get stuck in his throat where he last felt his heart. He wants to help, but if Duke’s loosing than what chance does _he_ have?

Her eyes narrow and he knows that look. “Nathan, don’t you _dare_ let Duke die, you hear me. You _can do this_.” Her hands reach up and grab his face—physicality returns and it’s just as bad as before—pulling her down towards him. “I _believe_ in you, and better yet I _love_ you. _You_ can save Duke, I know it.” She kisses him and it consumes everything else in the universe.

Until all that remains is her love, her belief, and her mission. Save Duke, save the man they love.

She releases him and he goes.

-

As she watches Nathan join the fray, her heart feeling like it’s stopped in her chest, some distant part of her points out that there’s something _different_ about him.

He’s halfway to Dwight now and it’s almost as if he’s _glowing_ , more and more as he gets closer. Out of the corner of her eye she can see people nearby look away or cover their eyes, the glow too much. But Audrey keeps looking.

The glow bursts into flames and she finds herself torn between awe and fear—but weren’t those the same thing?—as it spreads from Nathan. Nothing’s burning, no smell of smoke, just six bright fires, starting at white, and shifting to blue, purple, and even _green_ , spreading from him.

 _Oh_.

Wings, they’re wings.

And they fan out as Nathan leaps, billowing as he lands on Dwight’s chest, knocking the other man over. It’s clear to see that Dwight struggles, yet somehow Nathan manages to keep him pinned. Entranced Audrey watches as Nathan prys Dwight’s mouth open and shove the paper in, clamping his hand over the other man’s mouth so he can’t spit it out.

Beneath him Dwight struggles, but Nathan’s hold seems indomitable. As the seconds pass Dwight’s struggling lessens, until he’s still. Like that the ‘spell’ over everyone seems to shatter, Audrey included. While she’s worried about Nathan he’s not the one comatose on on the ground.

Duke’s still breathing, and it looks like his body’s healing, except she thinks it might be healing _wrong_ , one of his ribs is still jutting out further than it should even though the bone feels smooth under her touch. Shit.

While the Guard seem to waffle on what to do, Nathan’s still holding Dwight and she’ll deal with that soon, she unhitches her radio. “Charlie,” considering how close it is to dawn she might be getting Laverne.

“Yeah Parker?” Charlie’s voice crackles over the line, she’s grateful that the radios work out this far.

“I need two ambulances to the Brambles stat. And they better be prepped for supernatural.” That was a plus at least in this town, no need to think of a convincing lie about fast healing and berserkers. Dropping the radio next to Duke she gets up and slowly approaches Nathan.

His wings are still spread out, and they’re almost beautiful like that. “Hey, Nathan?” She keeps her voice soothing, not wanting to accidentally have him do something he’ll regret later. It doesn’t help that more than a few of the Guard have their guns pointed at him, while some are actually kneeling and _praying_ —she wonders if it’ll do them any good.

Nathan turns his head, his eyes are _blue_ , not just his irises, but everything else too, the same blue his eyes have always been. Part of her wants to recoil, but she thinks she might be responsible for this and she’ll damn well deal with her shit. “Hey,” she slides a hand across his shoulder. “It’s good, you did good Nathan. Thank you, Duke’s safe now.” Well safer than before, his body still needs to be fixed, but at least he’s not being beat up anymore.

Nathan’s eyes slide shut, and his breath leaves him in a shuddering gasp. His body trembles and he starts to fall as his wings fade away.

He weighs a ton but she catches him, well she stops him from hitting the ground too hard. He’s out cold, but his pulse is strong. With a relieved sort of sigh she leans in and kisses his cheek.

In the distance she can hear the wail of ambulance sirens.


	25. Chapter 25

Nathan awakes, he looks around, half startled to find himself on a hospital bed, he can’t recall the last time he’d been so hurt he ended up in the _hospital_. With a groan he turns his head, Audrey’s asleep in a chair her head and arms sprawled across the bed.

Reaching out, he spares a brief second to realize he’s not hooked up to an IV or even a heart monitor, he brushes some hair away from her face. His fingers trail across her cheek, savoring the smooth texture of her skin.

Her eyes flutter open, and she gives him a sleepy smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he replies. “What happened?” He looks around to see they’re in one of the bigger rooms, alone, the door’s open and he can see staff going about their business.

She sits upright and stretches. “Well what do you remember?”

Nathan frowns, his mind’s a bit of a muddle, and it’s a strain to recall what had been happening. They’d gotten Dwight in the Brambles, Duke had gone up against him… “What happened to Duke?” The panic in his voice almost catches him off guard; but then again, he’d realized he loved Duke and now he can’t _tell_ the other man?

“He’s okay,” Audrey’s fingers are tangling in his own, squeezing. “He’s in surgery right now so he can heal right.” She frowns. “It’s been a while since he went in, but I can’t imagine it’s easy to do surgery on someone who heals like Duke does.”

It’s not quite relief, because he needs to _see_ Duke, but he’ll take it for now. “I, I don’t remember anything beyond you giving me the paper.” If they’re in the hospital either things went right, or horribly wrong.

“Okay,” Audrey nods. “So you charged Dwight and, Nathan...you, you started glowing and grew _wings_ . Your eyes were _blue_ , and, well, if anyone had any doubts about you being an angel, they certainly don’t have them now,” the smile on her face is wry.

But at her words shock fills him. _Wings?!_ He had his wings again? That, shouldn’t have been possible. He’d lost his divine form when he’d taken on this physical body, he shouldn’t have been able to manifest _any_ of those parts of him, let alone his wings.

“You actually scared me there for a few seconds.” Her smile has a brittle cast to it, and he finds himself pulling her in for a hug. “I wasn’t sure if I would get you back or not.”

“You always will,” he means it like he’s never meant any promise before. “You and Duke, I’ll always come back for the both of you.” Not even Hell could hold him when it came to them.

-

Duke feels groggy, feels like there’s a million pounds pressing down on him and keeping him in place. It’s not fun.

Opening his eyes takes herculean effort, and he’s not sure it’s worth it when all he sees is bland ceiling tiles. Where the hell is he? His nose doesn’t seem to be working as it should, and his whole body feels like it’s been wrapped in cotton, tongue included. And all he can hear is footsteps, and beeping.

He tries to make a sound, but his mouth’s too dry, so it comes out half-formed and strangled.

But almost as if on cue Audrey and Nathan’s heads appear in his line of sight, so it’s not as bad as he’d feared. A straw gets placed between his lips and the water is the best thing he’s ever tasted in his _life_. A pleased sigh escapes him when he finishes. Now if only the rest of his body would get with the program.

“You’re in the hospital,” Audrey says without being prompted. “Dwight really did a number on you,” her voice trembles and he wishes he could comfort her.

“Don’t,” the same trembling’s in Nathan’s voice and it catches Duke off guard, well as off guard as he can get at the moment—he’s got to give the doctors credit, they managed to find something that could dope even a werewolf up. “Don’t _do_ that again asshole.” Nathan’s hand comes to rest on his face, thumb brushing his cheek. “You scared us half to death.”

Duke can’t even muster up smugness at the moment, still it warms him. Even if the situation that lead to it is the worst possible one. Well one of them. “Do my best,” he croaks out, he doesn’t want to make promises, because this is Haven and who knows what will happen.

Audrey leaves his sight and he hears her move around, seconds later the bed shifts as she climbs on top of him. “Sixteen hours Duke,” she curls around him like a blanket and he breathes her in, relishing it. “That’s how long you were in surgery.”

Moon above, no wonder they’re still in a state. He would be too if it was one of them in his place. “So it’s Nathan’s turn next right?”

Something like bitter laughter leaves Nathan, who in general looks torn between wanting to join them, although Duke would swear the bed Audrey’d been in was bigger, or standing guard, as if someone might come crashing in at any second to ruin it all.

Duke tries to banish that thought from his mind, this is _Haven_ , someone just might.

“Dwight okay?” He’d hate for all of this to be in vain, he _does_ sort of like that damned sasquatch. The last thing he really remembers is getting slammed into a tree.

Nathan gives a faint smile. “Yeah, he’s fine. Still unconscious, but his vitals are strong. He got hit with the same thing Carrie and Haskell did,” that’s Nathan’s cop face and if Duke were himself he’d definitely be going in for a kiss. “Which means we’ll probably get the same story when he wakes up.”

“I don’t know,” Audrey’s voice is right next to his ear. “Can you really picture _anyone_ getting the jump on Dwight? Even the one Carrie described as a ‘mountain’?”

Duke lets himself give an exaggerated groan. “No more shop talk,” he protests. “It is the _worst_ for my health.”

They both laugh softly, if a little strained—but hey, Duke’s been in their position a few times. “Alright,” Audrey says, shifting slightly so that her head’s on his shoulder. Her fingers trail up and down his arm, if he weren’t so out of it he’d definitely be interested. “You missed Nathan being awesome.”

Wow he didn’t know Nathan could blush that much. “Do tell Detective Parker.”

By the time she’s finished with her story Nathan’s sitting, his cheek resting on one of Duke’s arms. And Duke himself is both wishing he could have seen it himself, and wondering how the the hell Nathan was able to manage that. Granted it’s not like the two of them ever talked in depth on what Nathan couldn’t do anymore, but fiery wings and strength enough to pin a berserker were kind of a big deal.

On the other hand Nathan looks a bit blown away by it himself, so maybe he didn’t know what he could still do—to be fair Duke’s the same sometimes with being a werewolf, so it’s not like he can really throw stones.

Silence falls over the three of them, the sort that’s peaceful and content, Duke lets himself be in it, just sort of floating. If this is what nirvana turns out to be he thinks he could deal with it.

He feels Nathan shift slightly, and a second alter his hand’s being lifted and entangled with Nathan’s. “I think I might love you Duke, I just wish it hadn’t taken you almost dying for me to realize it.”

Audrey doesn’t exactly still, but he does feel her hold for a few seconds before relaxing, Nathan’s admission catching her off guard.

Then again if it caught _her_ off guard what’s it to him? Well besides being something he never thought he’d hear. “Come here you lug,” he’s pretty sure he’s smiling. “I want to kiss you.”

A puff of laughter tickles his neck from Audrey as Nathan leans in and they kiss. And alright, he’s pretty sure this is better than nirvana.

-

While he’s not sure how he actually feels about being carried bridal style, Duke protests on principle. Not that Nathan seems to give a damn as they pass through Nathan’s living room, if the faint smile on his face is anything to go by.  

The bed is still an unmade rumpled mess, proof, if Duke needed it, that Audrey and Nathan haven’t left his side since he ended up in the hospital. It’s...touching; and it makes the love in him grow. When Nathan finally sets him down he’s surprised to find that the bed’s softer than he thought it would be—then again he’s willing to bet it’s because Audrey badgered him into getting a real one after they started dating.

Audrey herself hovers, not quite sure what to do. “You want anything?” She asks.

“My boat,” Duke groans. “I thought we were going to the _Rouge_.” Not that Nathan’s place isn’t nice, but he wants _his_ place, _his_ things, the smells he’s been surrounded by for nearly thirty years.

Nathan’s expression grows almost thunderous, and the whole context of it is throwing Duke off; he’s used to seeing that expression when something awful happens when Nathan’s on the clock, not in bed—then again it’s not like Duke’s ever _been_ in bed-bed with Nathan before.  “Tomorrow. I, I want you to stay here. I, need to,” a flush creeps up his throat. “I need to know you’re safe.” Like the expression the words catch Duke off guard.

“Hell Nathan, just _say_ that next time, you-” he gets cut off by Nathan leaning in and kissing him, and Duke finds himself letting it happen. They’ve shared brief pecks on the cheek, but this is something else entirely and Duke wants to savor it while he can.

His torso gets chilly as his shirt somehow vanishes, and he can feel his own fingers fumbling at Nathan’s own shirt—damn freaking buttons. It all just adds to the moment however.

A moment that gets broken when Nathan jerks away, for reasons unknown. At least until Nathan speaks.

“Audrey, wait,” He sounds rough and needy, and it makes Duke _want_. “Stay.”  It’s both plea and request and something in Duke aches, wants Nathan to sound like that when he’s talking to him, just once.

She turns back to face them. Her scent itches at Duke, uncomfortable. She shifts her weight before speaking. “Do you really want me to stay? The _both_ of you, not just Nathan. I’m willing to give you both privacy of that’s what you want.”

“No, I mean,” Nathan shakes his head, clearly having trouble saying what he wants.

Duke, being closer steps in. “Deep breaths Nate.” He glances at her, “I’m more than fine with you staying Audrey.” He manages a smile, he won’t ever say no to her, and if her being here is what Nathan wants then Duke certainly isn’t going to argue.

Finally he gets Nathan’s shirt off, and a quick glance at Audrey shows she’s shed her jacket and shoes—he can guess why it’s only those—and is about to join them.  “Take your time Nathan,” she rubs a hand up and down his back. He wonders if she’s thinking the same thing he is, that they love Nathan, but sometimes it would be easier if Nathan would just straight up _say_ what he wanted.

Still he joins her in touching Nathan, his hands tracing up Nathan’s sides, feeling the bumps of his ribs slide in as Nathan gives a shuddery exhale. His shoulders slump and Duke sees Audrey narrow her eyes. “Don’t apologize Nathan, we can deal with this and it’s not your fault.” Duke bites back a laugh that would not be taken well.

Alright, while it would be better if Nathan would just say what he wanted. Duke’s not sure he’d take being with Nathan any other way than this; showing the other man how to enjoy himself, that it was _okay_ to do so. He and Audrey both sometimes needed to learn to just take things. Luckily they’ve got Duke.

Then again they’ve been teaching him too, he’s pretty sure he’ll start jumping in front of bullets any day now.

Nathan huffs in laughter, his head falling onto Duke’s their forehead in a gesture that a lot would call romantic; Duke certainly does, especially how blue Nathan’s eyes seem up close. “I want you to be here Audrey,” his voice’s still uneven, but Duke probably can’t throw stones. “I _want_ , you to help me,” his eyes close. “It’s too damn much, and,” he exhales. “Duke needs to know.”

“You’re telling me,” the bed dips as she moves closer, her voice growing throatier. “Nathan, that we need to show Duke how much we _really_ care? Is that it?” The words send a jolt through Duke, completely unexpected. _Gods_.

“Yeah,” Nathan’s head turns and the smile he gives her could replace the sun. Again Duke finds himself wanting, if something completely different than before. “That’s what I want.”

Audrey’s own smile isn’t too shabby in the sun-replacing department either, although it quickly vanishes as she climbs over the both of them to settle against his side. He finds her hand turning his head towards her and she’s kissing him, almost desperately. It rips a sound from him as he responds, trying to let her know that it’s really alright, they’re all here and safe.

When they break apart they both sound like they’ve run a marathon. Above them Nathan watches with his usual intensity. Audrey’s lips quirk. “Well Nathan?”

He blinks. “Huh?” Again Duke finds himself biting back laughter, although not as well if the brief pinch Audrey gives him is any indication.

“What should we do?” It’s sort of cute actually, watching this exchange. Not that Duke can forget the fact that they’re both hell bent on basically ravaging him.

“I,” he blushes, “I don’t know.” Duke finds his hands smoothing up Nathan’s sides again. He does feel a little bad for him. First times can be hard.

“Well how about we start with taking the rest of his clothes off?” Even to Duke it seems like a reasonable start. Duke might be revving to go, but he’s more interested in doing this _right_ —it seems like a lot of things involving Nathan recently have to start slow. Then again that’s certainly not a bad thing, they do it right and slow will make him burn even hotter.

Nathan jumps on the suggestion far more eagerly than even Duke expected and before he knows it his pants and boxer briefs are gone, lost somewhere in Nathan’s bedroom. To be fair he’s not the only one at least, Audrey’s down to a plain pink bra—although she’s still wearing her pants—and Nathan’s lost his own pants too.

“Follow my lead,” she tells Nathan. Her eyes turn to him. “And you keep us in the loop.” It’s not exactly the fierceness which she expressed that same sentiment to Nathan a month ago, but gods above just the words are enough.

He finds his eyes sliding shut. “Yeah,” he sighs, the love in his voice painfully obvious to him. But why bother hiding it anymore?

Audrey leans in and lays a brief kiss on his cheek, lips sliding down to his jaw. Seconds later, Nathan joins in, his lips slightly rougher than Audrey’s, but no less welcome. The dual sensation of lips and tongues and teeth assaulting his neck, makes him throw his head back, giving them even more space to work.

But things really pick up when Audrey’s mouth reaches his chest.

Her every action pushes Duke higher and higher; and Nathan, ever the dutiful student, only adds to it. He arches and groans as Audrey demonstrates how best to use fingernails. It’s a crash course in ‘what Duke likes’ and Duke’s helpless before the both of them.

In a way he’s so aroused that every new ‘jump’ barely registers, his mind in overload as Nathan learns. It’s a turn on in and of itself really, Duke hasn’t once doubted Nathan’s words in the hospital, but this just cinches it all.

The absolute, serious _care_ which Nathan goes about this does indeed make Duke feel like he’s being worshiped. It leaves him shaky, off-balance in the best way possible. “You, two keep, keep this up I’m gonna be a mess.” He’s actually amazed that he can still talk.

“Now Duke,” he can’t see her face but he can hear the wicked amusement in Audrey’s voice and knows it’s glittering in her eyes too. “Is that the thing to say when I’m about to teach your boyfriend to give a blow job.”

“Fucking hell,” he grits his teeth as he feels _Nathan’s_ hand wrap around his cock. “You’re gonna kill me.” But what a way to go.

Nathan laughs, and like that Duke’s gone.

He floats in the pleasure, watching through half lidded eyes as Audrey scoops up some of his come, offering it to Nathan to taste. Duke finds himself groaning, “like I said,” he somehow manages to get out. “Kill me, the both of you.”

Audrey moves up and kisses his cheek. “You love us anyways.” He manages a weak laugh as she pounces on Nathan. “Come on,” she purrs. “We need to give Duke some time before we start round two, blowjobs and massages.”

Duke laughs again, his hand finding Nathan’s and lacing with it.

-

Even though she loves work, Audrey also enjoys lazy mornings. The three of them waking in a tangle of limbs, nuzzling and kisses on cheeks, laughter from her and Nathan when Duke tries to tug on her shirt. Still half asleep the three of them try to cram themselves all into Nathan’s tiny bathroom to no avail.

She pouts when she’s the one who gets booted out—because she’s the shortest of the three she’s sure—but wanders into the kitchen to start the coffee pot. Soon the whole house smells of Nathan’s very expensive coffee—if she’s not careful he’ll turn her into a snob—and she finally gets the bathroom. When she comes out Duke and Nathan are sharing the kitchen, bickering about what to make for breakfast.

It’s wonderfully normal and domestic and it’s enough that she nearly forgets that next month’s October.

Nathan hands her coffee with a smile.

“Come on Audrey, help me teach Nathan that there’s more to breakfast than pancakes.” Duke cajoles and she hides her smile behind her mug.

Nathan rolls his eyes. “I know there’s more to breakfast than pancakes, I just don’t care. There’s a difference.”

“He’s got you there Duke,” she sips her coffee, perfect.

Duke opens his mouth to respond when there’s a knock on the door.

They share similar looks of confusion before making their way to the door; it’s Nathan’s house so she lets him take the lead. Her heartbeat picks up, and she finds herself wishing she had her gun. She doubts she actually _needs_ it—people who mean to cause trouble rarely _knock_ —but she wants the weight of it in her hand none the less. Instead she takes Duke’s hand in her own.

She wishes whomever’s on the other side hadn’t ruined her morning.

Nathan finally opens the door.

Dwight stands on the porch, face solemn. “I wanted to thank you for stopping me.” He says without prompting. “I owe you all. Which is the real reason I’m here. I left the Guard yesterday, and there are things about them you need to know.”

“Like what?” Internally Audrey sighs; not that she’s not grateful that Dwight’s willing to help them, but she would have liked to have a nice morning with her men too.

“Like what the Guard have to do with you and the Barn.” A yawning silence fills the space at Dwight’s words. It’s the first time she’s heard anyone outside the three of them say ‘Barn’. But she also finds herself filled with an inevitable bleakness; of _course_ the people of Haven managed to keep one more secret from her.

If she could she thinks she would leave and never look back. She might be Haven, but somedays it feels like there are forces working to make her as unhappy as possible.

“Do you mind if I come in?”

She, Duke, and Nathan let Dwight in.


	26. Chapter 26

Sunday of the week leading to Halloween dawns wet, cold, and dreary. As Audrey stares out her window she finds it fitting. Sometime this week the Orionids will come and if the Guard have their way she’ll end up in the Barn, just like always.

Her fingers tighten around her mug, because not this time, not if she has anything to say about it. _She_ gets to decide her own fate, not a building, not men from now or centuries past, not even Haven itself. She loves Haven and wants to see it thrive, but she also wants to _live_.

And even if Mara bound herself to Haven to escape some person or fate, well Audrey’s sure if they, or it, are still around she can deal with it. If not by herself, than with her friends and lovers. Possibly even with the help of her _children_.

She hasn’t really let herself dwell too much on James and Jennifer, not because she doesn’t _care_ but because there have been more important things. Mainly the two men who’ve been ambushing and altering supernaturals left and right. So far they’ve managed to keep it under control, but she fears that there’ll be one that they _can’t_ stop—none have been worse than Dwight, but there’s always a ‘what if?’—and everything will just fall apart around them.

Of course her being here is supposed to keep that from happening, but she can’t imagine the magic that bound her here is really equipped to deal with this. Although it’s done a hell of a job so far.

Doesn’t stop her from worrying, Haven’s quickly turning into a powderkeg and all it takes is one small spark to set everything off.

With a sigh she shakes her head to try and dispel those thoughts and takes a sip of her coffee. Part of her wants to go into work, even if it’s her day off, just for the distraction it’ll provide. But the chief’s been adamant, with the way things are getting worse she needs all the break time he can give her; especially since she gets called in more often than not because something’s gone wrong.

She could call up Nathan, see if he wanted to do something, but he’d said he wanted some time to himself and she’ll give that to him. It’s something they’ve agreed they’ll all need from time to time.

She could also go downstairs and see if Duke’s in, but she’s not sure if she’s willing to brave the weather just on a possibility. Maybe she could suggest a sort of trapdoor that would allow her to just take a ladder down from her apartment into the Gull. The idea’s just silly enough that he might go for it.

A brief shiver passes through her, she huddles more firmly around her mug as if the coffee inside is enough to keep _all_ of her warm. While her apartment does have insulation, and fairly modern insulation at that, it still seems to leak heat like a sieve—maybe she should complain, or just find someone in town who can figure out what’s letting all her heat out. Not something she’s looking forward to dealing with come winter.

Finishing off her coffee she pads back into her kitchen to see the pot’s empty. Welp, that decides it then.

Going to her closet she pulls out her rain coat and pulls it on as she shoves her feet into her hiking boots. Zipping the jacket up she pulls the hood over her head and braces herself as she heads out. She practically runs down the stairs, eager to get into the welcoming warmth of the Gull.

Inside the Gull’s all but dead, only a few diehards having braved the weather; and with tourist season over there’s half the clientele gone right there. And it’s clear the staff are enjoying the excuse to get paid to basically do nothing. Shedding her coat she hangs it up by the door and go to the bar, the Gull is definitely warmer than her apartment and she’s grateful.

Sonya blinks at her owlishly for a few moments, as if trying to figure out when Audrey came from; in no real rush Audrey lets her. Since Duke hasn’t come out—she doesn’t doubt he would have smelled her at the very least already—she thinks it’s safe to assume he’s not in. Which doesn’t mean he _won’t_ be in.

“What can I get you Audrey?” Sonya’s voice breaks her from her train of thought.

Even though she knows most of the menu by heart now, she still picks it up and glances over it. “Just coffee for now I think. Do you know if Duke’ll be in today?” Sometimes it feels like she spends less time with him than she does with Nathan, thanks to the fact that she _works_ with Nathan.

Sonya shrugs. “Bossman said he’d try, but didn’t make any promises.” She grabs the pot off the heater and pours Audrey a cup.

Audrey only nods in thanks before taking her mug and tucking herself away in a corner booth. There’s a deck of cards sitting in the middle of the table and after taking a sip of her coffee Audrey picks it up and shuffles. The act helping to sooth her nerves.

Laying out solitare she finds herself wondering if any of her past lives were good at cards—Audrey is more than willing to admit she’s only mediocre—or if she’s always been so-so. Did talents like that continue from life to life, or were they somehow taken ‘out’ from life to life?

If so she’s willing to bet Maggie was good at cards, probably an excellent bluffer too. Audrey wishes she could know her past lives first hand, know the women she was. Her hands work almost on autopilot, moving cards and drawing when she’s out of options.

She gets through four hands of solitaire before the door to the Gull opens again. She finds herself relieved to see Duke, and he smiles as her as he shrugs off his coat. He heads over to her table and gives her a brief kiss. “There’s something I want to do and then I’ll join you alright? Shouldn’t take me longer than half an hour.”

“Okay,” she agrees. She’s already waited this long, what’s another half an hour?

He leaves and disappears into the kitchen, she’s deep into another hand of solitaire when something warm and comforting reaches her nose, making her lean back against the wall and just breathe. Whatever Duke’s making back their smells wonderful and she hopes she gets to try it.

It’s a few more minutes after that before Duke finally re-emerges from the kitchen, arms full with a tray brimming with mugs. He offers them to his staff, then the diehards, before finally bringing the final two cups to her.

“Hot toddy,” he says as he hands it to her. “Cures what ails you.”

She accepts the mug with a smile, taking a grateful slip, her eyes slipping closed as the heat fills her. “It’s good,” she tells him.

He slides into the bench next to her, his body making her just as warm as the toddy. “How you doing?”

She lets herself lean against him, sipping from her drink. “I’m not sure. I want to say I’ve dealt with worse, but I don’t know if I really have.” She has memories, bad ones, of foster homes; but they must be false if she...resides in the Barn for 27 years between cycles. So where did these memories of hers come from? Someone real? Or were they a fiction given to her? “Then again I’m not sure anything in the world could help me prepare for this.” she gestures with her mug to try and encompass the whole of Haven.

“Hey,” Duke’s arm wraps around her. “We’re here for you. Even if the Guard somehow take you Nathan and I’ll come for you.” Flecks of silver glow in his brown eyes. “I’m pretty sure Nathan would storm heaven or hell singlehandedly if it meant he’d get you back.” He turns his head and kisses her temple. “Then again I would too,” his tone turns wry.

She smiles as she leans into the embrace, leaning up slightly to kiss his cheek. “I know, my knights in armor. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Yeah,” he sounds rough and she wonders if he’s trying not to cry. “But knowing our luck…” He drifts off, clearly as unwilling to finish as she is to hear.

But he’s right, even with the upheaval those two men have brought with them things have been going well for them. Things are bound to start going wrong sooner rather than later. “We’ll be ready,” her grip on her mug tightens. “I think right now I don’t even care if the world ends because I don’t go into the Barn. I’m staying here with you and Nathan, I don’t ever want to leave again.” She thinks this may be the life she’s always wanted, and now that she has it she’s not going to just go easily into that good night.

“Good,” Duke sounds as fierce as she feels and she can’t help but bask in the upswell of love that fills her.

On a whim she finds herself holding out her pinky, “together.” Both a vow and a promise.

“Together,” he agrees with a quirk of a smile as he links his pinky with hers.

-

Nathan finds himself stabbing a canvas with a paintbrush, trying to get out the frustration filling him. The days have been slipping away faster than he wants them too, each one bring them closer and closer to the inevitable confrontation.

He lays down another reckless stroke of black, he’s got no real subject in mind—just venting in a way that’s probably healthier than looking for a fight—so it looks a little like a Jackson Pollock reject, but he’s okay with that. It suits his mood perfectly.

What possibly stings most of all is the unknown betrayal by the Teagues family. He’s known them since he first came to Haven, they were one of the first people to reach out to him, Jacob Teagues was the first man he called his friend here. He’d been there at Vince, and later Dave’s, baptisms—or at least as there as he could be.

He remembers Jacob comforting him when Constance vanished.

And all that time the bastard knew what had happened to her.

Nathan dips his paintbrush into his washwater with a snarl.

Of course there’s guilt gnawing at him too. The fact that he really _could_ have done something, instead of passively letting her disappearance happen.

The Guard don’t care _how_ she gets in, only that she does. And he wonders how many people they’ve threatened to make sure she does what they want. Maybe they’re the reason James, _his son_ , is dead. Dwight hadn’t been sure one way or the other; but Nathan finds he wouldn’t put it past them.

At least Audrey’s agreed to spend every night until they’ve dealt with the Barn with himself, Duke, or the both of them. Hopefully that will at least be enough to keep someone from just grabbing her in her sleep. He and her are together during work too, although not all the time.

Bile rises in his mouth at the thought of someone just snatching her off the street when she goes to get coffee. He and Duke might not even know until it’s too late.

A sharp crack jerks him from his thoughts and he looks down to see he’s broken his brush. He stares at it, not quite understand what’s just happened. Finally though it registers and he sighs, taking both pieces he sets down his palette and goes to throw it in the trash. Going into the bathroom he carefully checks his hand over for splinters—more out of habit than any real need to treat them.

Finding none he finds himself taking a seat on the toilet, his head falling into his hands.

Sometimes he wonders if it would have been easier if he had never met Constance, if he didn’t know her would he have really protested over what Haven did to her? Maybe if he hadn’t loved her things would have been easier.

Bitter laughter leaves him. Not love Constance, or Sarah, or _Audrey_? How could he not? She’s...she’s herself. Caring, and strong, and one of the best things that could have happened to him since he became corporeal. Without her he wouldn’t have really met Duke, and even with how antagonistic their relationship was before Audrey he wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

He knows this time will be different. They know what’s coming, they know what to expect. But that doesn’t stop him from worrying, he’s certain he’ll only stop worrying when they’ve dealt with the Guard and the Barn once and for all and the Orionids have come and gone with her still her.

 _Then_ he can relax.

With a sigh he stands up, and his reflection grimaces when he sees he’s gotten paint on his face. Washing it off he goes and covers his palette so the paint doesn’t dry. That done he picks up his cell, calling a familiar number. “Hey Claire,” he says when she picks up. “I was hoping you had some free time and we could talk.”

-

Duke rubs the bridge of his nose, he can’t actually get headaches but he’s mimicked the gesture from humans long enough that it’s an ingrained habit.

It feels like he’s spent more time in the Crocker house the past few weeks than at the Gull and the _Rouge_ combined, and he’s not sure how he feels about that. Of course it’s not as if he’s got any place better to meet with people.

At least now he’s got a reason to, a goal he wants to accomplish. And with the list that Dwight helped them make of the current members of the Guard he’s got a lot to do. Luckily there’re more than a few people more than happy to spy on their neighbors and tell him all about it.

Ah, small towns.

He glances at the calendar he’s set up on the desk. Three days to Halloween, it’s now or never.

The Barn looming over everything is even enough that he’s barely spared a thought for Halloween, one of the biggest days in Haven. Then again any if there were any prep he still needed to do for that, well it’s already far too late.

He can’t wait for Audrey to know how they celebrate. Wants to see her face when she tries homemade pumpkin ale for the first time. He wonders if she’s given any thought to a costume—he certainly hasn’t.

His phone beeps with a text. He looks to see it’s from Nathan, and right, he’s supposed to be meeting them soon. Getting up he straightens the desk, doing his best to ignore the memories that try to crowd in. His father has no place in his life.

Leaving the study he makes a note to bring up costumes, it’s last minute, but he’s sure they can think of something they can all goes as. At the very least thinking about it will be a welcome distraction for them all.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally here at the Barn!

Nathan eyes open, traces of a nightmare fading away; after a few seconds the world comes into focus and he hears Duke and Audrey breathing next to him. The sound calming him faster than anything else—safe, they’re still safe.

Two days until Halloween, he thinks this might be the closest they’ve cut it—even with Lucy last time she was gone by morning of the 28th.

Lifting his head he ses that the alarm for him and Parker will be going off in a few minutes, so no point in trying to get more sleep.  Slowly he sits up, doing his best not to wake either of them. It’s early enough that it’s still dark out, the only lighting in the room coming from the clock. Not that it bothers him, there’s a pleasant peacefulness to the dark, one that he wishes he had more often.

So he just lets his mind drift, the sounds of the ocean nearby mixing with the sounds of Duke and Audrey sleeping. Until his ears pick up the faint click of the clock before the radio turns on.

“...and if you want to get some stargazing done folks, tonight’s the night to do it. The Orionid, or the Hunter’s, meteor shower is due to kick off tonight before midnight, lasting all the way through All Souls on November first. But it’s gonna be a cold one, so don’t forget your blankets and thermoses.”

“Thanks for that Chloe, and now we’re gonna kick off…” The DJ gets cut off as Nathan slams his hand against the snooze button.

But the damage’s already been done.

Today’s the day then.

“I think I might throw up if I try to eat anything,” Parker’s voice suggests to Nathan that he’s probably the same.

He doesn’t see it but he hears Duke move, Parker’s muffled sob as she buries her face against him. Nathan himselfs shifts closer wrapping his own arm around the both of them. “But now we know,” he’s not sure if his tone’s meant to comfort or not. “It’ll all be over one way or the other today.”

“Cold comfort,” Duke mutters.

Nathan stands, almost grateful when the world turns numb, today of all days this will be a blessing instead of a curse.

From memory he finds and turns on the bedside lamp, dimly lighting the room and allowing him to actually see. On autopilot he gets ready for work, grateful that he can’t feel his heart aching as Parker lets herself have this breakdown.

Once he’s dressed he sits back down on the bed, his hand going out to rest on Parker’s shoulder, pain filling him. He rubs his thumb back and forth, trying to comfort her as best he can.

In time her crying subsides and she uses one of the blankets to wipe her eyes as she sits up. “Okay,” there’s a tremor in her voice, but only if you’re listening for it. “I’m ready.” He moves so she can climb out herself, feeling a burst of surprise when Duke also gets up.

“Isn’t it too early for you?” It escapes Nathan without him meaning too.

Duke just gives a fond, if wan, smile. “I’m not leaving either of your sides today,” he sounds firm about that as he begins dressing as well.

Affection fills Nathan’s mind as he stands again and leaves. He doesn’t bother to start the coffee pot, or root around for breakfast. He’s in the same boat as Parker is he’s sure, eating right now would be a disaster; but he finds himself hoping by the time they get their coffee at Black House one of them will be feeling hungry enough to cajole the others into _something_.

He’s just grabbing his radio and keys when they exit the bedroom, both their expressions grim as they follow him out to the Bronco.

The drive is full of a tense silence, a strange situation considering they’re not angry with one another but with the plan others have for Parker.

Even Black House seems muted, as if the whole of Haven’s picked upon Parker’s mood and reacted accordingly. Duke manages to browbeat the both of them into at least getting small pastries. Instead of leaving to head into the office right away the three of them huddle together at a table, returning to silence as they drink and he and Parker pick at their food.

It’s the first time Nathan can remember when he’s been reluctant to go into work. And he thinks he might have called in sick, if anyone would actually believe that excuse.

“I love you,” Parker blurts it out, breaking the silence between them. “Both of you.” Her gaze falls to her to go cup. “I just wanted to say that.” ‘ _Before it’s too late_ ’ hangs around them, an unasked for fourth party.

Despite it being impossible Nathan would swear he felt his heart seize. “I love you Audrey, and I know I’ll never stop.” One of his hands rises up to rest atop hers. “You too Duke.” He manages a ghost of a smile.

Duke manages one in return. “Of course you’re gonna show the both of us up, damn romantic.” Nathan feels pleased and he can feel his cheeks heating up. “But yeah,” Duke’s hand comes to rest atop his and Parkers. “For the past hundred years, and hundreds more if I’ve got anything to damn well say about it. You’re mine and I’m not letting you go without a fight.”

It’s enough that, despite his earlier reluctance with the whole ‘public affection’ thing, he leans over and kisses them both, one after the other. While he’s had hopes about what will happen today now he feels like they’re not in vain.

Ruining the moment his radio crackles. “Hon,” Laverne’s voice comes out loud and clear. “Hope you and Parker’re coming in soon, we’ve got a case. Bad one from the looks of it.”

The three of them share a look, and Nathan unhooks his radio, aware of the locals attempting to ‘not’ listen in. “We’re a few minutes out.”

“Ten-four,” Laverne replies and the radio goes dead. “No rest for the wicked,” he sighs.

Parker actually laughs while Duke grins. Coffees in hand they leave.

The station is in controlled chaos, “my office now,” Garland almost shouts it to be heard over the bustle. Not even second-guessing the order Nathan heads in, Parker and Duke hot on his heels. Duke closes the door behind them and Nathan doesn’t miss Garland’s arched eyebrow at him joining them. But he doesn’t comment on it.

“There’s been an incident over at the Estes house, so far it seems the same MO as those two trouble-making bastards…” Garland shakes his head. “I’ve got officers there already to contain everything, but I still want you to go in, take statements and figure out what the hell happened.”

“Yes sir,” it’s a habit born of decades. While Duke remains silent Parker echoes him and then they’re leaving.

It’s Duke who directs them to the Estes house, his own voice trembling for a few seconds for reasons unknown, at least until Parker teases out of him the fact that the Esteses are one of the families that have recently sided with Duke in Haven’s personal cold war. The steering wheel creaks under his hands.

They make it to the house in record time. It’s already been cordoned off, and like Garland, Rebecca and Jeremy raise their eyebrows at Duke.

Not that Nathan really pays that much attention to it, what with seeing Jordan sitting on the bench on the porch, a shock blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

A silent conversation passes between him, Parker, and Duke and moments later he’s heading to Jordan while Duke and Parker head inside. He takes the spot next to Jordan, wondering both what the hell she’s doing here and how awkward their vestiges of a relationship feel now that he knows about the Guard.

To give himself something to do he pulls out his notepad and pen. “What happened?” He can keep it strictly business at least.

“Well I live nearby and Helen wanted to give me some of her squash that she’s been growing, so I thought I’d stop in before my shift and when I got here the door was open. I came in and I saw one of those men, the smaller one, I reached out to touch him, but nothing,” she looks visibly shaken. “Nothing happened. He shoved me aside and ran out of the house. Which is when I heard Leon shout. I think the guy must have touched him, and given him powers, he was having trouble not falling through the floor.”

Nathan writes it all down without comment, he’s learned it’s best to get the whole story at once then break it down later, as he writes he jots down questions that he wants to ask her.

“And that’s when I called the police, I knew you and Detective Parker would be able to help.” He sees her bare fingers grip the edge of the blanket, the fact that she hasn’t slipped her gloves back on surprising him; she doesn’t like them, but she’s usually more considerate than this, at least while out in public.

If he strains his hearing he can hear footsteps upstairs, and faintly Duke’s voice—but not Parker’s. “Alright, so about what time did you head over?”

Before she can answer however Duke gives an angry shout, one that has Nathan up like a shot. He starts to run into the house, but before he can Jordan grabs him, jerking him back. He falls, with no sense of balance he can’t exactly attempt to catch himself and he probably hits the ground hard.

“Nothing personal Nathan,” Jordan manages tells him as she runs into the house. Barely a minute later Duke shouts again, this time in pain, and Nathan struggles to get up. Once he does he grabs his gun and heads into the house. He pulls out his radio. “Rebecca, Jeremy, I need you to sweep the yards. If you see Jordan stop her by any means necessary. And see if you can find Detective Parker, she may have been taken.” Nathan hadn’t quite believed Dwight’s claim that the Guard would do anything to get Audrey into the Barn, but now he does.

Upstairs Jordan’s gone, and Duke’s prone on the floor, looking like he’s trying to remember how to breath. A quick scan of the rest of the room tells him that everything looks fine and that Leon’s unharmed—and not falling through the floor either, he wonders if that was a lie, if the whole attack was.

Flicking the safety on he holsters his gun and kneels at Duke’s side. “You okay?” He reaches out and lays a hand on Duke’s neck, relieved to feel a steady heartbeat. “What happened?”

Duke groans and manages to hold a hand out, Nathan grabs it and helps him upright. “Audrey and I came up here and she started talking to Leon, working her magic. He seemed scared, but not as terrified as I thought he would be.

“Then out of the closet burst two assholes, they looked like they could be from the Guard. One of them got the drop on me,” he makes an aborted, angry sound. “The other grabbed Audrey and they were out the fucking window before I could even do anything. Then Jordan came in and touched me as I was making to dive out the window after them.”

Nathan finds his gut twisting as they both come to terms with what just happened. The Guard have Audrey, and he and Duke have no idea where to even start looking for the Barn.

-

Part of Duke wants to blame himself for this whole fucking fiasco, he should have smelled those two bastards in the closet. Should have realized that Leon wasn’t scared because he’d just been given a power he didn’t know how to handle, but because his mom had been blackmailed.

But playing the blame game won’t get them any closer to finding Audrey or the Barn, so he’s gonna be a fucking adult about it and just put it off to the side. Because it’s not really his fault, the Guard have been doing this probably since Audrey was Mara, of _course_ they’re good at what they do. It’s just like being at a casino, the House always wins.

Of course the Guard haven’t really ever had to deal with Duke or Nathan at their worst. He doesn’t know about Nathan, but he thinks he’d be more than happy to teach the Guard why werewolves were considered monsters.

First they need to find them.

Worst part is that whoever they were they were prepared for him, they’ve done something to mask their scents, even Jordan’s—and maybe that should have been the first give away that something was wrong. Duke shakes his head, don’t think about what you can’t change, he reminds himself. It’d only drive him to distraction and right now that no use.

“Duke?” Nathan sounds concerned, and he has a right to be.

Together they head out of the Estes house—he’s not going to let himself wonder if the whole point of her coming was for the Guard to get an in with him to spy, he’s _not_. “I, I’ve got no idea what to do Nathan.” It’s a bitter brew to drink the fact that despite everything they may have failed. But it’s a fact he finds himself facing.

Nathan’s face turns stony, but he shakes his head. “I’m not going to accept that Duke. We can do this, we can save her.” Nathan’s optimism is surprising and heartening, if seemingly naive. But Duke guesses it’s better than feeling helpless. He certainly finds himself leaning on it as Nathan pulls out his phone. “Claire, meet us at the Gull.”

-

Claire steps into the Gull, shedding her coat. The Gull itself is empty, she wouldn’t be surprised if Duke kicked everyone out. Meaning she at least doesn’t have to search for everyone. Even from here she can almost _taste_ what has to be Duke and Nathan’s fear. Luckily she already ‘ate’ and she can resist the urge to take from them. Right now she can’t see that being in anyone’s best interest, least of all Audrey’s.

As she approaches she sees Dwight’s there too, as is Chief Wuornos. On the table in front of them a map of Haven and the surrounding area’s been laid out. “Not the Brambles,” she hears Nathan say, drawing a big black ’x’ through the area. “It’s fairy territory, they wouldn’t settle with something like this nearby.” He looks up and manages a wan smile. “Hey, glad you could join us.”

“It’s Audrey,” she might not be much of a fighter, but she’s still damn well willing to help. “And what exactly are we debating?”

“Where the Barn is,” Dwight answers. Ah yes, the place where Audrey gets shoved into every twenty seven years. Right.

She wonders if Duke’s even noticed she’s here, he’s got his nose in the oldest looking book she’s ever seen, brows furrowed in concentration. “Well it’s in a clearing in a wooded area, so what places does that actually leave us?”

All of them glance at the map, Nathan’s finger tracing the coastline up Tuwiuwok and Kick’em Jenny. “Where were the old tribal lands?”

“It’s on Kick’em Jenny Neck,” if the situation weren’t so serious Claire would call their nearly synchronous turn comical. _Dave_ stands in the doorway, looking sheepish. “The Barn’s located on Kick’em Jenny.”

“How do you know that?” Nathan asks about the same time Dwight says, “you’re not part of the Guard.”

Dave takes his hat in his hands as he approaches. “No I’m not, but I _am_ a reporter, if Vince thinks he can hide things from me he’s got another think coming. Did you know Sarah terrified me?” The question comes out of the blue and at the very least takes Claire aback.

“I saw her kill a man who was attempting to kill her patient. It was…” Dave drifts off, shivering. Fear drifts from him like the finest wine, and Claire finds herself taking a step forward and helping him sit—she’s certain if she didn’t he would have just trembled himself to the ground—she saps only a taste of his fear, enough that he shouldn’t pass out at the very least. She finds it curious that while Nathan looks shocked by Dave’s words Duke doesn’t.

“I think there’s something wrong with whoever she really is,” both Duke and Nathan stiffen, and if Claire didn’t already know they were both involved with Audrey she'd definitely find that interesting. “But still I wouldn’t wish her fate on anyone. And honestly, my family’s ‘great destiny’ terrifies me more than she ever did.

“You’d better hurry though, knowing Vince he’ll have her in the Barn by sunset. Then you won’t be getting Audrey back no matter how hard you try.”


	28. Chapter 28

Audrey’s shoulder bangs into a tire iron as the car she’s in goes over what has to be the biggest fucking pothole in Maine. And a tire iron would be a nice weapon if she weren’t tied up tighter than a ship’s hull. The Guard certainly aren’t taking any chances with her. Not that she can blame them, she’ll fight with her teeth alone if it means she’s got the slimmest chance of getting free—no luck on that front however considering they gagged her with duct tape.

Which sure as hell doesn’t mean she’s given up. She’s just going to have to pull the mother of all MacGyvers to get herself out is all. She certainly has the drive to do so at the moment, even if not the means.

No more potholes, but the ground they’re driving on is certainly rockier, noisier too. Some sort of gravel road, definitely back woods.

The car finally comes to a stop and when she hears footsteps approaching she closes her eyes so that she’s not blinded. A few seconds later the trunk pop and thug one and thug two grab her. Fighting the urge she holds off on opening her eyes until the light’s reasonable instead of blinding.

She’s at a dock, the tiniest one she’s ever seen. There’s one boat, a little fishing number with a outboard. And standing next to it on the dock is Vince, she narrows her eyes, snarling at him from behind her gag.

“Any trouble?” Vince asks as they approach.

“Nothing we didn’t anticipate,” Jordan answers from behind Audrey. “We weren’t followed and last I saw Duke and Nathan were still as the Estes house. We’re in the clear as far as I’m concerned.”

“Good,” Vince nods. “You two get her in the boat, Jordan you’ll be coming with us just in case.”

Even though it’s ultimately useless Audrey still struggles as he two men haul her to the boat and set her down on one of the seats. If she were truly desperate she’d probably throw herself overboard, nevermind that she’d probably drown instead of somehow managing to swim away; and while eating up time is probably a good thing right now she’s also not willing to risk injuring herself now. Not when she’s got the chance to fight back later.

So she hoards her strength, instead glowering at Jordan and Vince and vowing to be as difficult as she can.

Vince starts the boat and they shove off from the dock. As they head out into open water, the boat going painfully slow, Audrey has to let herself wonder where the hell they’re going. From what she remembers of the description of the area—which for all she knows could be wrong, the Barn could have moved since it was first created—they should be going to a place with woods, not the ocean. And if she could ask she damn well would, she’s got a right to know she feels.

But neither Jordan or Vince move to take off the duct tape and they didn’t speak to each other either.

It’s the most agonizing boat ride Audrey’s ever been on. Made even worse with knowing what awaits them at the end.

The Barn, her prison in all but name.

Yet there’s also a hope, a hope that her children will be there, that they’ll be able to help her escape this fate once and for all.

She clings to that, along with the hope that Duke and Nathan will find her; maybe even that she’ll be able to escape this mess on her own. It’s better than dwelling on what will happen to her once she’s inside the Barn.

They round Tuwiuwok and Audrey starts paying attention to all the landmarks she can, just in case she needs to head back on her own. She thanks Duke for the navigation lessons, as frivolous as they seemed back then.

When they finally start heading towards a definite destination Audrey’s surprised it’s Kick’em Jenny Neck. So it seems her thought about the Barn moving was right; if she had to guess it was probably because Haven had begun to encroach upon the Barn’s location.

Either way she’s not sure what it means for being found, even though it’s close to town most people still considered it ‘remote’ and didn’t head that way all that often.

Not that she’s going to give up, she could probably make her way on foot back to Haven, and the woods here are thick enough that she doesn’t think it shouldn’t be too hard to lose Vince and Jordan.

Now if only they’d cut her bindings.

When they finally reach shore Vince sort of does while Jordan ties up the boat to a nearby tree stump. But it’s only her legs. Meaning she’s slightly off balance when he helps her up. At least they’re high enough up on the shore that she doesn’t have to worry about her shoes getting wet, hiking with wet feet was never a good idea.

Vince and Jordan trade places and Vince leads the way towards the barest hint of a game trail. If it were just a hike Audrey thinks she might enjoy herself, it’s uphill but not gruelingly so, and the weather’s nice enough, as is the scenery.

Finally the trail levels out and widens slightly, which at least means Audrey’s not getting whacked in the face by small branches anymore. They keep heading in however, and Audrey has to wonder how far they’ve got until they reach the Barn.

They reach a break in the trees, and there it is. The Barn.

It _looks_ like a ramshackle ruin, a vestige of some long ago farm that no longer exists. A clever disguise for what it really is, her own personal nightmare.

“This is the Barn?” From the way Jordan mutters it Audrey’s sure she hadn’t meant for that to be heard. But she guesses when you’re not terrified of it’s not a lot to look at. Well boo hoo for her it’s not as impressive as she’s expecting.

Agent Howard, although she’s certain now he never was an agent, stands next to the askew doors. “Trouble?” His voice is almost toneless, as the three of them come to a stop a few steps away.

“Nothing unexpected Howard,” Vince replies.

“Yet you had to gag her?” She knows now he’s not real, but it galls her that she trusted him, that she saw him as a mentor and valued his opinion.That she might again if she goes into the Barn.

“Well if we hadn’t I’m pretty sure she would have screamed for help the whole trip over.” Jordan sounds less than pleased, not that Audrey’s overly concerned with Jordan’s well being.

Howard’s gaze flicks to her, “and who is this?”

“Ah yes,” well woop de fucking do, it seems they’re more than willing to waste  time without her help. “This is Jordan McKee, my...second in command.” She practically feels Jordan stiffen at that brief pause, and at least no one can see her grin with the duct tape. “Jordan, this is Howard, he’s the...face of the Barn, for lack of a better term.”

There’s a brief moment of silence, “acknowledged,” Howard speaks. “I will still need to hear her voice so the tape will need to be removed.”

Jordan none too gently rips it off and Audrey makes a face, grimacing at the burn. But she stubbornly doesn’t speak.

“Mara Haven, Guardian Lar of this place,” Howard’s words have a cadence of ritual to them. “Your waking time is over once more and now you can rest again. Know that there is nothing to fear, you are safest in the Barn and nothing and no one will disturb you.” Howard holds his hands out. “That is the agreement you struck Mara Haven, nine months of hardship for twenty seven years of peace.”

Blood fills Audrey’s mouth as she tries not to speak, but even still she can’t hold back her laughter at Howard’s last words; and she must paint a sight, laughing with bloody teeth and mouth.

Howard frowns clearly taken aback, then again he’s not the only one; Vince is looking at her like she’s cracked, while Jordan looks torn between admiration and annoyance. “Do you deny this covenant that you yourself set forth?”

Maybe she should have taken that sign-language course the Haven community center was offering a few months ago, not that it’d do her any good with her hands tied behind her back. She can’t flip him off either, which would be satisfying in it’s own right.

Instead she settles for sticking her tongue out, childish, but effective given the situation.

“We’re wasting time,” Vince hisses. “Let us in so we can finish it, who knows how thin the protective barrier is already.”

“She must say something,” Howard almost snaps, which Audrey actually finds impressive. “It does not matter what, but she must speak, that is how it must go.”

Audrey finds herself grinning, because now that she knows that she’s going to keep her lips sealed. Quiet as a church mouse.

A crashing sound comes from the woods nearby and Audrey feels her smile grow. It’s surprisingly hard to resist the urge to throw out a taunt of some sort. But she certainly thinks a few. The Guard’s luck seems to have run out and they’ve been found.

Jordan jostles her and before Audrey can fully process it the other woman’s got a gun pointed at her. Just in time for Duke, Nathan, Dwight, and Claire to see when they come bursting out of the underbrush. They freeze and Jordan speaks. “You all come any closer and I’ll shoot her.” To Audrey’s ears the flick of the safety sounds explosively loud.

“You can’t shoot her,” Claire shoots back—surprising everyone except perhaps Howard. “If you do than what’s the whole point?”

“While it is not prefered,” something like dread curdles in Audrey’s stomach as Vince speaks. “Audrey can enter the Barn deceased, the magic is powerful enough to resurrect her should it come to that.”

“No!” Duke and Nathan shout at the same time, although they don’t move. Nathan looks like he might vibrate a hole around himself however, and Duke ‘s eyes are bright silver, and she’s pretty sure there’re fangs pressing into his lower lip.

Vince steps ahead of them. “This has to happen, do you know how much Haven will suffer if the covenant is broken?” She might not like Vince, but she’ll admit he certainly is committed and has passion. She’d probably appreciate it more if it weren’t her life on the line. “It will be chaos, the town will tear itself apart.”

“‘The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few’?” Duke’s barely noticeable lisp doesn’t detract at all from the derision in his voice. “I think you’re underestimating how strong Haven is.”

“I think,” Audrey’s not sure how close Dwight is to going full berserker, but she’s at least grateful that if he does this time he’ll be in control. “That maybe you should ask Haven before going and making choices for it.”

“Yes,” Jordan sounds just as angry and derisive as Duke. “Because the citizens of Haven absolutely understand what’s at stake here.”

It hasn’t escaped Audrey’s sight that while they’ve all been talking Claire’s been creeping closer and closer. Warm affection fills her and she does her best to not draw attention to it. It sort of works.

Mostly because no one’s paying attention to Audrey _or_ Claire once Jordan mutters, “I’m getting sick of this.” The gun gets removed from Audrey’s side and before Audrey can even register where she’s pointing it it goes off.

Audrey’s ears are ringing from the sound as she sees Nathan go down, blood pouring out from the wound in his chest. “ _NO!”_  She screams, unable to help herself. She struggles to get away from Jordan, to go to his side, but it’s useless.

“Acknowledged,” Howard says again, unaffected by everything that’s just happened. “Mara may enter the Barn and sleep, her just reward.”

She still hasn’t really gotten over the shock of Nathan being shot, so she barely finds the ability to struggle as Vince and Jordan begin manhandling her. Her gaze fixed on Nathan, Duke’s hunched over him, trying to staunch the bleeding. And Dwight seems torn between staying and helping or charging them to try and get her free. She doesn’t even know where Claire is anymore.

Behind her she hears groaning wood, and she’s being thrown back towards it. Not that she really finds herself caring about that, more concerned with Nathan’s survival, with how Duke will be without both of them.

Yet she still manages to feel a hand wrap around her upper arm as she hits the ground, the world around her turning brilliantly white. At first she thinks it’s from pain, but then she realizes, no, it’s from the inside of the Barn itself. Her groan as she tries to sit up comes back to her in a strange echo, which makes her frown, until she manages to turn her head and see she’s not the only one that’s been thrown into the Barn.

Claire’s there too.

“The spell cannot complete until all extraneous persons have exited.” Howard’s voice seems to come from everywhere.

“Don’t you dare step out of the Barn,” the fierceness of her tone shocks even herself.

Claire meets it however. “Not without you that’s for fucking sure.” Audrey makes a pleased sound when Claire helps her upright, and another when she sees Claire pull out a knife and start cutting her bonds.

Slowly she brings her arms around in front of her, shaking them gently to try and get circulation back. As she does so he looks around. The inside of the Barn is depressingly bleak, just like it had looked during her ârsgång—she hadn’t exactly expected that to be what it was really like.

“The spell cannot complete until all extraneous persons have exited.” Howard repeats again and Audrey bares her teeth.

“Shut up,” she shouts back. “She’s not ‘exiting’ so just get over it.”

_Now_ her voice echoes strangely, the walls bouncing it back to her and making it seem as if she’s not the only woman shouting at him, that her past selves are somehow with her and for her. It’s far more steadying than she thought it would been, and she finds herself heartened as she and Claire stand.

“So what now? I mean there’s clearly a door,” Claire gestures at what’s a blank wall to Audrey. “But, I repeat I’m sure as hell not leaving without you.”

“That’s good,” even if a pointless thing to say it still leaves Audrey, “especially since _I_ can’t see the door.”

Before Claire can respond the sound of footsteps, running, reaches their ears. She curses the Guard for taking her gun—they had her tied up, what the hell was she going to do with it? And sets herself between Claire and whomever’s coming, at the very least she knows self-defense; she doesn’t doubt Claire does too, but Audrey’s also an officer of the law, she’s supposed to protect people like Claire.

A tall dark form dashes through an archway she’s sure wasn’t there before, and nearly skids to a stop a few feet away, she hopes it’s not another Howard, one who might actually be able to _do_ something about getting Claire out of the Barn. When she gets a good look at his face however she feels nothing but relief. “James.” She finds herself standing there awkwardly, not exactly sure how to interact with him. Yes he’s her son, but they’re also complete strangers. Duke and Nathan—her heart clenches, she finds herself praying that Nathan’s alright—know him better than she does.

“You managed to make it in without falling into the magic,” he says over Howard repeating his same ‘warning’. “Thank God.”

“Thank her,” Audrey jerks her thumb at Claire, “she’s the one who was smart enough to grab me before it was too late.” For which she will be eternally grateful. “Now we just have to figure out how to get back _out_.” In a perfect world it would be easy, but she’s got no such illusions about their current situation.

James doesn’t exactly answer, instead spinning around and heading back the way he came from. “Come on.”

Seeing no reason not too they follow.

“I mean I knew he probably wouldn’t have aged,” Claire keeps her voice low. “But seeing him look exactly like I remember from my childhood is _weird_.” Right, even _Claire_ knows her son better than she does.

“Imagine how I feel,” Audrey shoots back. Not trying to be cruel, but it’s still the strangest situation Audrey’s ever found herself in.

The walk through the archway into another completely white hallway—she’s amazed that James sill appears to have a functioning mind—down that for a few feet, then through _another_ archway. Until they’re approaching a bed she also remembers from her  ârsgång.

In it sleeps Jennifer, looking peaceful and like the perfect image of repose. Her hair’s a short bob and her features remind Audrey’ of her own—although no one would mistake that hair color for anyone’s other than Duke’s. Without much thought Audrey finds her hand coming out brush Jennifer’s cheek.

With a frustrated sigh James runs a hand through his hair, a gesture that both endears him to her, and makes her heart clench. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing seems to wake her up.”

“How long has she been like this?” Claire’s tone seems torn between professional and curious as she takes a seat at the foot of the bed.

“Since before I got here,” James answers. “Beyond that I don’t know, Howard doesn’t exactly talk to me. And I always seem to forget to ask whenever nana manages to slip in.” Right, this mysterious ‘nana’ he’d mentioned during their first meeting. Audrey wonders if she should have put some thought into figuring out who _that_ woman was.

“Howard,” she doesn’t shout this time, but she can’t exactly keep _all_ the anger from her voice. “How long has Jennifer been in the Barn?” It’s worth a shot at least in her mind.

There’s a few seconds of silence, and Audrey finds herself biting back a sigh, but Howard does speak. “Jennifer Crocker-Haven was place in the Barn on June 20, 1970, she was put into a comatose state soon after. It was the first time the Barn had been summoned to Haven outside of the normal cycle.”

“Why was she put to sleep and James wasn’t?” Claire asks before Audrey can even think of another question.

But Howard doesn’t answer and with an aggravated sound Audrey repeats the question.

“She was deemed too dangerous to be conscious, her questions and the abilities she displayed while in Haven suggested to the Guard that she would be best suited to this course of action. While James Haven’s abilities pose no such threat.” James makes a face and she can guess how galling that is to hear. But Howard’s words make Audrey even more determined to wake Jennifer up; what the Guard considered ‘dangerous’ could only be good things in her book at the moment.

However she’s fairly certain that if she asks Howard how to wake up Jennifer she’s only going to get silence. So she tries a different tack, hoping that Howard will ‘overshare’. “How is James still alive. What happens if he leaves the Barn?” Whatever the answer to that might be will hopefully answer at least _some_ of Audrey’s questions about waking Jennifer.

“His resurrection was seen as the best way to bring Mara back to the Barn, since he is her son the abilities of the spell could extend to him. There was also...unexpected help. And if he chooses to exit the Barn while it resides in Haven he will still remain alive.”

Which is a comfort to know, she couldn’t imagine _leaving_ him here when she has the chance to get him free; and at least now she knows being in the Barn isn’t what’s keeping him alive. On the other hand, “Sarah.” She says firmly. “He’s _Sarah’s_ son, not Mara’s.” She meets James’ gaze, unsure of what exactly she’s trying to convey, but wanting to make sure he understands. “He’s James Vernon, and none of us are Mara. You can’t hold me to the deal she made because I’m _not_ _her_.”

“You are part of the spell that keeps Mara safe,” if Howard could sound angry she thinks this would be it. “You are nothing more than an imprint placed upon her to better hide her. You may deny it but you are Mara.”

It will be pointless to argue with him, so she doesn’t bother. Instead she tries to think about their problem as logically as she can.

Which doesn’t help as much as she hoped it would, maybe this is just something she should trust her gut with. “Okay,” she finally speaks. “James I need you to grab Jennifer. Hopefully if she leaves the Barn it’ll be enough to wake her up,” or at least that’s the idea. “Claire, you get to be the one who guides us through the door, I’ll be holding your hand and that should be enough to get me back outside.”

As far as plans go it’s not the most elaborate, but she hopes it’s simplicity will be enough to make sure it actually _works_. “Alright?”

“The KISS method, I like it,” Claire smiles.

James just gives a solemn nod and she moves out of the way so he can scoop up Jennifer. Claire stands up and they start heading back towards where she and Claire came in—although it’s hard to tell with the sameness of the interior. “Okay,” Claire’s voice calls them to a stop. “Can you see the door too James?” Audrey’s not sure if she’s double checking or for some other reason Audrey doesn’t know.

“Yeah,” James answers.

Claire sticks out her hand and Audrey grabs it. She doesn’t hold her hand out for James, Howard said he could leave whenever he wanted, and just hopes he’ll be able to follow behind them. With her other hand Claire reaches out and touches a patch of wall that looks exactly the same as every other patch of wall. Except the moment her hand touches it the world goes bright around them.

When it clears they’re back in the clearing on Kick’em Jenny. Everything’s changed since they were last there. Vince and Jordan have been tied up, Dwight standing guard. But Duke’s still hunched over Nathan, hands pressed to the other man’s chest.

“Nathan!” She runs to them, letting go of Claire. When she reaches them she falls to her knees, leaning over Nathan, who’s bleeding seems to have slowed, but his eyes are closed. “Nathan, open your eyes, please.” It’s close to begging, but for all she knows Nathan is _dying_.

It seems to take him years, but his eyes open. “Audrey?” He slurs.

Blinking back tears she manages a smile. “It’s me Nathan, we made it out.” Of course as long as the Barn is still standing she doesn’t doubt that the Guard will keep trying to put her in it. Distantly she hears a flurry of voices, but right now it’s unimportant. “You’ll be okay right?” He can’t die, not now when she’s so close to being free. Not when she’ll finally have the chance to _be_ with him and Duke until Death did them part.

“Do’n know,” he coughs. His breathing is labored too, the sort that she knows from experience means he has a collapsed lung.

Her heart freezes, she looks up at Duke, who looks about as wrecked and worn as she feels. “Why isn’t he healing?”

“Jordan’s bullets,” he snarls. “I don’t know who she got her hands on it but they were dipped in Hell’s Heart, it’s deadly to angels.” She’s not sure she wants to know why Duke knows that.

Crying right now is pointless, no matter how much she wants to; once they’ve saved Nathan, then she can cry. But before she even has a chance to try and think of a solution—she’s never even _heard_ of Hell’s Heart before now, and she has no idea how they can neutralize it—James is beside her. Duke blinks, clearly caught off guard for a second. James doesn't really give either of them a chance to respond however before he’s slicing the back of his arm, shoving Duke’s hands away, and letting the blood fall on Nathan. “ _Heal_ ,” it’s both a command and a plea.

Miraculously, or perhaps not so—maybe this was James’ power—the wound began to bubble and hiss. The reaction growing in strength the more blood James spilled. Eventually though James pulled his arm away and hissing did his best to stauch it. Out of the corner of her eye she sees someone kneel beside James and help him, but nearly all of Audrey’s attention is on Nathan.

The wound continues to bubble, and Audrey reaches out, using the ruin of his shirt to start wiping it away. The skin underneath is whole and healed, and moments later Nathan inhales deeply, the wet sound gone completely.

Almost simultaneously she and Duke pull him into a hug, probably holding onto him too tightly, but right now at least she doesn’t care. Nathan’s _alive_ , and that’s all that matters.

It takes a few seconds for Nathan to reciprocate, but she doesn’t care because he _does._ His hands cling weakly to herself and Duke but she feels him trying to move closer and trying to kiss the both of them at once. It’s sloppy and a mess but joyful in a way that makes Audrey start smiling. In the end it winds down to the three of them, just holding each other and breathing.

“Uh, hi,” a woman’s voice she’s never heard before breaks the spell. “I don’t really want to interrupt but there’s something important we should probably be doing now.”

The three of them turn their heads, which takes a bit of maneuvering considering how unwilling they are to let each other go.  But eventually Audrey at least can see the woman, see _Jennifer,_ kneeling next to James. Her brown eyes shine with an earnestness that Audrey finds endearing. When she realizes the three of them are staring she blushes a little. “I’m Jennifer,” she sticks her hand out. “James probably already told you that, but well...”

Audrey spares a glance at Nathan and Duke, Nathan is bemused, while Duke looks well and truly pole-axed.

But Jennifer’s right, they’re only halfway done here. If  they leave the Barn standing than this is only going to keep happening. They need to stop it.

So she disentangles herself and takes the few steps to Jennifer. “I’m Audrey,” she takes...her daughter’s hand. “It’s so good to finally meet you.” Audrey realizes she has no idea of Jennifer knows who her parents are or not, but that can wait for now. “And I’m certainly open for ideas on how to destroy the Barn.” At her words Vince stiffens, but it’s what Audrey wants. The Barn destroyed and herself free.

“Well, I know how I’d do it,” Jennifer turns and gives the Barn a critical eye. “But I don’t actually know if my thing would do anything.”

“Thing?” Audrey finds herself intrigued; what was so dangerous about her daughter that they thought putting her into a coma was preferable to letting her remain conscious?

“Yeah,” Jennifer actually brightens a little. “I can...well I guess rapidly age things to the point when they cease to exist might be the best way to describe it.”

Audrey’s pretty sure that’s Duke and Nathan trying to stifle _something_ behind her. “So you can destroy things?” No wonder the Guard thought her dangerous.

“Yeah, but I don’t really know if I’ve got enough power for this, I mean I did a house once on a dare. But this, is a bit more than a house.” Audrey doesn’t hold herself back from going up and taking Jennifer’s hand and giving it a squeeze.

“You won’t be doing this alone,” she reminds. “...I,” even as she says it she’s not sure if she should refer to Mara as herself or as a ‘past self’. “Helped create this place, I should be able to help destroy it.”

There’s movement behind her and she sees out of the corner of her eye Duke and Nathan join her. “Then I can probably help too,” Duke says. “My grandfather _did_ make it too.” He grins, “and if push comes to shove we could probably get some blood from Vince too.”

Two Crockers, herself, and possibly a Teagues. Too bad there wasn’t a Driscoll too.

“And I’ll help in any way I can,” Nathan says; a part of her feels bad he might not be able to do more than provide moral support, but that’s okay to.

“You’ll have to count me out,” James says. “Anything I do might make it stronger not weaker.” Right, healing powers would most likely do more harm than good. If she could she’d give him a comforting squeeze too.

“Okay, but how do we start?” She just barely remembers what Nathan read them a few months ago.

“Blood’s always a good place to start,” it’s Dwight who speaks, nearly surprising all of them; she’d all but forgotten he and Claire were there too. “I...I mean it’s just a suggestion.”

It take Audrey aback to see Jennifer smile, and realize how much like Duke’s it is. “That’s a really good idea.” Dwight’s eyes look away and an absent part of Audrey makes a note of it, finding it curious. “Somebody wouldn’t happen to have a bowl would they?” Her eyes dart around, trying to spot one.

But there’s no such luck.

So they improvise with Nathan’s hands. And Claire offers up her knife when James points out using his might cause some cross contamination.

“But who’s going first?” Duke asks, turning the knife over and over in his hands. Audrey’s not sure if it’s a nervous tic, or if his hands are just trying to occupy themselves.

They both look to Jennifer, who seems taken aback. “Well, It could be me, because I think we’ll need more of mine than anyone else’s. But I mean you’re the one holding the knife, you could go first.”

Part of Audrey wants to laugh, not because she thinks this plan is going to fail, but because it’s so off the cuff and last minute and it’s _wonderful_.

She and Duke share a look and he shrugs, turning over his hand he pierces one of the veins there and lets it drip into Nathan’s outstretched hands. He wipes the knife clean and hands it over to Audrey and a moment later turns his hand over so that his blood no longer drips.

“Okay,” Audrey says more for herself than anyone else. Instead of the back of the hand she goes for her inner arm, hissing at the pain as the knife digs into her flesh. It’s a bit more awkward for her to position her arm in just the right way but she manages. “I feel like I should be saying something,” she says, nearly overshadowing Nathan’s inhalation of surprise.

“Nathan?” She and Duke ask at about the same time James says “dad?”

There’s a few seconds of tense silence before Nathan shakes his head. “I’m fine, I just...when yours and Duke’s blood mixed I got a...headrush.” He sounds vaguely embarrassed to admit it, but Audrey finds it intriguing more than anything.

“You can feel our blood?” Neither she or Duke are touching him, unless their blood actually counts—which would be...kind of disturbing actually.

“No, but...something in me still reacted. That’s probably enough Parker.” She bites back a little smile.

Pulling her arm away however she frowns. Some part of his angelic nature possibly? When it had come forth last time he’d been able to subdue Dwight, if they managed to bring it out again could he help destroy the Barn?

Duke offers her the cloth he used to clean the knife and she does before handing it to Jennifer. “Would you be willing to try and bring your angel forward? You seem pretty invincible when you’re like that.” And really she’s sure that mortal magic couldn’t stand up to angelic might. Of course even if he agreed the question became how did they do it?

“We can try,” he agrees. “Not sure how well it’ll go, probably still weak.” Right, even if James did heal him he’s still suffering from blood loss, regardless of whether he’s acting like it.

Okay, but her mind still scrambles to remember what exactly happened the last time, and what then might have been important.

“Do I need to wait?” Jennifer’s voice breaks her train of thought, not that it was going much of anywhere.

Audrey shakes her head, “no you can spill your blood.” She knows she could ask Vince and Jordan if they remember what happened, but right now she’d trust them about as far as Claire could throw them. So they’re really not a viable source at all.

As she watches Jennifer’s blood joining the rest, and the way Nathan gasps at it too, she thinks again. She remembers talking to Nathan, telling him he could help save Duke, kissing him, then it’d sort of..happened. So really it’s a mystery. But she’s at least willing to try.

“Okay,” Audrey blinks, caught off guard by how much she’s missed. “So I guess I know how I do it when it’s just me, but honestly I’ve got no idea how to make this,” Jennifer gestures at their huddle. “Work Especially if he’s...helping?”

Right, this whole cobbled together, haphazard plan of theirs. On the other side of the clearing Jordan laughs, it gets cut off and she hopes Dwight and Claire didn’t do anything _too_ violent. Still it sets her teeth on edge, makes her _want_ to make this work, no matter the odds.

“How do you usually work?” Duke sounds curious now, which she can only think of as a good thing; not that she’s really been all that worried about how they all interact with each other.

Jennifer shrugs. “I usually touch an object, think about wanting it gone and poof it starts to decay until it’s gone.”

“Maybe cover your hands in some of this blood before you touch the Barn then,” Nathan suggests. “There’s certainly enough for the both of us if I’m going to be helping...hopefully.”

“Right,” she hands the knife back to Duke and she and Nathan manage to split the blood between them without wasting much of it.

As a group they get closer to the Barn, Jennifer and Nathan keeping their palms upturned so that none of the blood drips off.

When they reach it Audrey feels the urge to say something again, and this time she does. “I am Audrey Parker, the Lar of Haven,” and now that she knows the word she’d certainly going to be looking it up. “I was once Mara, and made a pact with Haven.” Out of the corner of her eye she sees Howard appear. “But now I wish to to break that pact. I do not need the protection of Haven, and I no longer wish to sleep.”

Behind them she hears Vince make a sound. “Why are you doing this?” He asks, the fact that he doesn’t understand galls her. “Don’t you understand what will happen to Haven if this happens?” She can’t see it but his next words definitely have her picturing him looking only at Duke and Nathan.  “Why can’t you just let her go?”

“Ignore him,” she says, loud enough for him to hear. “He’s not worth it,” she _does_ care about Haven, but she can’t exactly protect it if she’s dead or gone. So looking out for herself is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. She sets her hand on the Barn, and she looks straight at Howard. “With my own blood, and the blood of the Crockers I break this covenant.”

She gives a little nod and she sees Jennifer and Nathan place their hands on the Barn. Somehow she manages to keep her hand on the Barn and still step closer to Nathan. “Nathan,” she murmurs, going off instinct, he bends his head down to better hear her.

“You need to destroy this place to help me,” they both already know it, but she feels she needs to say it anyways. “If you want to keep me here, if you want to protect me, you’ll do this for me. Please, “ it does feel like a strange thing to say, but it’s been said now. She just hopes it’s the right thing.

Underneath her hand she feels the Barn waver, and she steps away from it fast enough that she nearly stumbles, Duke catching her.

And it appears she did say something right, because once again there’s fire blooming from Nathan’s back, the wings unfurling. Behind her she hears Duke inhale sharply. She wants to speak but she can’t, finding herself entranced by the Barn.

Howard is the first thing to go, his body dissolving into the air.

The Barn holds out, but soon she sees holes and fuzzy patches, like bad movie film, appear. Yet still it remains standing.

“You can’t escape this,” she can almost picture Jennifer’s gritted teeth.

Nathan doesn’t speak, but she sees his shoulders hunch, like he’s applying more force to the Barn and it ripples, a few boards flying off.

Audrey takes a step forward to try and help again, maybe if she adds some more of her own blood it will speed things along.

But before she can Nathan speaks, a word she doesn’t understand, but has the world around them _trembling_. The Barn blows apart, she’s caught in the blast radius and finds herself being flung up into the air. She sees Duke and James trying to reach her, but the world around her goes white before they do.

For a second she thinks it’s because they’ve somehow failed and she’s back in the Barn, but she can still feel the air roaring around her, and it centers her. This is _real_ , they did it, they’ve managed to destroy the Barn. There’s still a sliver of fear in her, because she has no idea where she’s going to end up, or in what condition. She’s pretty sure she still has her phone on her, but it’s not as if she can check.

Eventually she lands, the ground hurts when she impacts, but she finds herself almost relishing it. It means she’s still awake and hopefully in Haven.

Once she feels more like herself she slowly gets to her feet looking around.

Well that thought about being in Haven wasn’t far off. In fact she’s somehow back in Haven proper, on the makeout point in East Haven, next to an old stump.

Her blood runs a little cold, because she remembers this place. But relief soon chases it away, because she’s alone. She’s the only one here.

Close on it’s heels is worry, because she has no idea where everyone else is, or if they’re alright. Fingers fumbling she pulls out her phone—so she did have it still— and dials Duke’s number. Fear claws at her throat as the phone continues to ring with no answer.

At least until. “Audrey?” Duke’s voice nearly makes her fall to her knees.

“Yeah, Duke. It’s me. Are, are you both alright?” Again a burst of panic, James had saved Nathan, but she has no idea what’s happened to him now that the Barn’s been destroyed, if he’s himself again.

She hears the brief sounds of a scuffle over the line and her heart leaps into her throat. “Parker?” Nathan’s panicked voice fills the line and she finds herself laughing as she realizes he must have stolen the phone from Duke.

“Hey Nathan.” Now she really does let herself relax, fairly certain that if either of them were seriously hurt they’d sound more in pain and less panic.

The sound of footfalls has her turning around. “Parker where are you?” Nathan’s voice falls away from her ear like her phone as she sees who’s approaching her.

He’s tall, but still a few inches shorter than either Nathan or Duke, with hair somewhere between brown and blond, tanned skin—definitely from time in the sun not genetics—and eyes as blue as the sky above them.

She feels like a deer in the proverbial headlights as she watches him walk towards her. On the ground she can hear Nathan still, if faintly, clearly not happy with her lack of response. “Who are you?” She demands, fingers twitching for the gun she doesn’t have.

A smile she thinks is supposed to be loving splits his face as he comes to a stop in front of her. Warm hands cup her cheeks. “Don’t you remember what I told you Mara? I’d always find you, no matter what.” He leans down slightly, and she wonders if he’s going to kiss her. “Because you’re mine.”

Her heartbeat picks up again as she realizes this is the vision she’d had. “Answer my question.” She gets out between gritted teeth. If he does kiss her she’s definitely going to try and bite his tongue off.

He throws his head back and laughs.

Only to throw her away from him a few seconds later, he himself going off in the opposite direction.

Once again Audrey hits the ground, but with less spinning, and she’s upright soon after. Gaping slightly as she watches a black arrow hit the ground exactly where they’d been standing. It vanishes and the grass around it withers.

“Oh darn,” a woman’s voice, dripping with sarcasm, fills the air. “I missed.”

Audrey’s head whips around to where the voice is coming from to see a woman all in white—with hair and skin to match—sitting on an equally white horse; a black bow in hand. Her copper eyes are narrowed, and Audrey notices that she’s got another of those vanishing arrows ready to be shot.

The man is up like a shot. “You,” he snarls.

The woman rolls her eyes. “Yes me. Now hold still dear nephew, so I can actually hit you.” She brings her bow up and draws, pointing it straight at the man.

Audrey really wishes the Guard hadn’t taken her gun from her; because while the guy is definitely a creep—he does _not_ own her—she’s not sure he actually deserves to be shot, least of all by an arrow that apparently kills things...differently than usual.

Like magic, and she wouldn’t be surprised if it is, those two silent men that have been terrorizing Haven—it’s strange to finally see them, they’ve been like ghosts before now—appear in front of the man, clearly intent on protecting him. “They work for you?” She finds herself exclaiming, feeling sort of silly for doing so.

Not that any of them seem to notice it, caught up in their bizarre drama. The woman fires again, this time it hits the shorter of the two.

He, well, explodes as the arrow vanishes.

It’s less disturbing than Audrey thought it would be, considering it’s not flesh, blood, and viscera that goes flying, but black _dust._

The woman fires again, except before it can even get close to the two men the bulky one’s scooped up the creep and is bounding away. So once again the the arrow hits the ground and grass withers.

For a moment it looks like the woman might pursue, Audrey doesn’t think it would take much to catch up, considering she’s on a horse. But then the woman sighs and relaxes her bow; which, like the arrows, vanishes.

“What the hell is going on?” It comes out more of a shout than Audrey would have liked, but to be fair she’s had a very trying day. All she wants to do is crawl into her bed and sleep for a week without anyone trying to shove her into a magical prison, or creepily try and kiss her, or shoot arrows.

The woman blinks and stares at Audrey like she’s seeing her for the first time. “Oh,” tender wonder fills the woman’s voice, the sound of it somehow shocking to Audrey.

Audrey watches as the woman dismounts and starts to walk towards her, and she has to wonder if it’s going to be a repeat of the guy.

It sort of is, because the woman reaches out for her, except it’s not to cup her cheeks, it’s to pull her into a hug. Stunned all Audrey can do is stand there. “Oh my dear,” one of the woman’s hands begins threading through Audrey’s hair. “Oh how I’ve missed you.”

For a few more seconds Audrey endures the embrace, but then she struggles. Wanting out, wanting answers. The woman lets her go at least, and keeping her eyes on her Audrey takes a step back, then crouches down and picks up her phone.

Thankfully it seems Duke and Nathan have stayed on the line. “Guys, I’m fine. I’m at the East Haven overlook, please come and get me.” Without waiting for a response she hangs up. Turning her full attention to the woman.

“Who the hell are you? Who the hell is he?” She might as well ask since it seems they know each other. “And what the fuck was that?” Audrey is sick and tired of being jerked around, this time quite literally.

A wan sort of smile crosses the woman’s face. “His name is William, he was a...former lover of yours. The spell keeping you here was designed to keep him out, and now that it’s broken…” Drifting off the woman gives a shrug.

“As for what that was, there’s no love lost between him and I. Least of all because of what he’d done to you.” Audrey finds herself staggering slightly under the full force of the woman’s copper eyes. “But that is a tale for another time perhaps.”

“Who, who are you?” Audrey repeats, disliking how her voice shakes.

The woman’s face grows long, and Audrey watches as she reaches out for her again, pulling her hand away right before it touches her cheek. “Oh my darling girl.

“I’m your mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert Dramatic Chipmunk here*
> 
> So for those of you who follow my writing blog (or check it regularly) you've known for a while that [Charlotte/Croatoan aren't Audrey's parents in this 'verse](http://kaelthewriting.tumblr.com/post/147609865891/41-46-48-fiery-kings-bb-you-jnow-what-i-am-about) (one of the last holdovers from the original idea I had when I was first watching the show. Also while that first 'spoiler' was in reference to ch 23 it...still applies), although you won't find out who her mom is (unless you know your stuff) until Monday, and it'll take a bit longer for her dad to come into play.
> 
> But Jennifer and James for realzies!! Finally.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter's pretty short (which I actually just realized recently...) but it has a lot in it.

Audrey doesn’t speak, just stares at the woman claiming to be her mother.

Who’s currently sitting on the stump, somehow turning it into a _tree_ again—before that she’d been over by where the small man...died, gathering _something_ — on the other hand Audrey’s brain isn’t working as well as it should at the moment, so she could be wrong.

In fact there’s only silence between them until Duke and Nathan finally arrive. The both of them sweeping her up into a hug. She hugs them back tightly, clinging and inhaling the smells of both of them. They’re _here_ and she’s safe, and she won’t ever lose herself again. She thinks she might be crying, but doesn’t give a shit.

Eventually though her men pull away, although she’s grateful to notice that they stick close. She sees both of them scan the area, remembering what she’d told them about her vision. But while Duke’s gaze takes in the woman and clearly doesn’t think her all that important, but Nathan’s searching stops dead when he sees her.

“What are you doing here Lady Conli?” The title surprises Audrey, she doesn’t think she’s ever heard Nathan be so... _respectful_ to someone, not even Garland. On the other hand she knows her ‘mother’s name now.

Conli stands, and the stump _does_ have a new sapling sticking out of it. “Nathanael,” Audrey’s glad she’s not the only one caught off guard, Duke’s expression probably mirroring her own at the name. “It is good to see you, it’s been too long.” She takes a step closer, but still stops a comforting distance away.

“Nathan,” Duke’s voice is steady, but she can feel his pulse pick up under her fingers. “Care to introduce us.”

Nathan starts, like he’d forgotten himself. “Uh, yeah. Duke, Audrey, this is Conli DesJardin, Conquest of the four Horseman.”

-

The smell of Audrey’s shock hits Duke’s nose like pepper. Then again, he’s shocked too. Meeting a fallen angel was one thing, but this?

“She says she’s my mother,” Audrey says it almost accusatorily. Which just sends another burst of shock through Duke. None of them had ever really thought of who Audrey/Mara’s parents might be, and clearly it’s coming to bite them back in the ass.

Thankfully he’s not the only one shocked. Nathan’s head turning between the two of them for a few seconds before focusing on... _Conquest_ again.

“It’s the truth,” Conquest shrugs. “I carried her in my womb and gave birth to her, raised her. Although she was Mara not Audrey.” Another shrug. “It is not such a large thing Audrey, you are not the first daughter I’ve had, although you _are_ the first child I’ve…lost.” Duke’s been trying to get a read on her scent, but it changes so much that it’s like trying to read in and earthquake. Still she _sounds_ regretful. “Perhaps we could take this somewhere else and speak more on it? The order of things in Haven has changed again, and it would be good to share what you do not know.”

-

The station is quite, and no one bats an eye when Nathan escorts Parker, Duke, and Lady Conli into his and Parker’s office.

Lady Conli’s _daughter_. The idea still staggers him, that the woman he’s loved for well over a century is the daughter of _Conquest_. He closes the door behind him and closes the blinds, some of the force know how to read lips, and this isn’t the sort of conversation he wants _anyone_ to eavesdrop on.

“Tell me more about William.” Audrey’s voice is all business, even with Duke practically pressed against her side, face buried in her hair.

Lady Conli goes to Parker’s desk and leans against the edge. “Well William’s what he calls himself now.” She waves a hand, like it’s not really that important. “He’s a son of War, your...cousin, for lack of a better mortal term. He met Mara in the mid-1600s, and spirited you away.” Her face grows pensive, and Nathan finds himself discomfited by it. She’s _Conquest_ , older than all angels and creation combined, she shouldn’t _feel_ regret.

“I did try to find you, but he’s wiley, and managed to find the best way possible to distract me.” The thread of anger in her voice affects him more than he thought it would, his own, righteous, anger rising up in answer. Eager to tear down whatever she might direct him at; and _that’s_ what he’s more used to from her.

“How did he distract you?” Nathan asks at the same time Audrey asks. “Wait, cousin? Spirited me away?” Duke snorts and Nathan bites back a smile when Audrey elbows him.

Lady Conli gives an indulgent sort of smile. “He attacked my home Nathanael,” it’s...strange to hear his ‘true’ name said again. “Or, better put, he sent some humans to attack it.” She shrugs. “I had to move sooner than I would have liked, although as places go Washington isn’t that bad.”

“My fellow horsemen and I aren’t truly related, at least not how humans would define it. But we use the terms because we like them. And because humans have no words for what we really are to each other.” That had always slightly unnerved Nathan, for reasons he could never really put his finger on. “Back when William was born War was my brother, now she is my sister,  but either way William is your cousin. And perhaps ‘spirited away’ is not the best term, ‘woo’ and ‘seduce’ would be more accurate. Either way you left my house and lived and traveled with him, until-”

“Sixteen-ninety eight.” Audrey interrupts. “That’s when Mara made her deal with Haven.”

A nod, follow by a ghost of a smile. “It was clever of her, to change herself so completely so that William would not recognize her. If she were not my daughter I might have lost her completely when she did that.

“But now you have broken that spell, and he is free to come and go through Haven as he pleases. I would not be surprised if he makes some vow to never leave until he has you again. After you were formally introduced he pursued you quite thoroughly. Even with your age difference. But if he has a plan of some sort I am not privy to it.”

Parker pinches the bridge of her nose. “Great, okay. But will he try anything tonight?” He can commiserate with her worn tone and expression, if he touched either of them he’d probably feel the same; possibly even worse considering he’d been shot less than an hour ago.

Finally he finds himself giving into the nagging urge that’s been with him since they got to the office, and falls into the empty space next to Duke. He nearly goes limp when his hand brushes Duke’s and his head spins, yeah, worse.

Duke makes a sound and turns slightly so he can pull Nathan closer to him, and he feels one of Audrey’s hands brush against his back.

“No,” Lady Conli’s voice breaks their moment. “I do not believe he will attempt anything tonight, he’ll want a plan before continuing. The coup will be stopping him before he has the chance to put it into action.”

Nathan wonders if maybe they’re too late for that—during the ride to the station Audrey had told him and Duke about the two men who were apparently working for this ‘William’.

“Then can we talk more about this tomorrow?” Parker nearly groans.

“Of course,” if Lady Conli is put off by that in any way she’s certainly covering it well—then again should he expect any different from _Conquest?_ “I will see myself out then and see you in the morning.” With far more grace than any living thing has a right to have she glides out of the office, leaving them alone.

“Let’s go home,” Parker’s voice is barely audible. “Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And for fans of a certain mystery/horror fiction podcast, yes, that is what you're thinking of, and there will be plenty more where that came from. (this is totally my headcanon for what it is)


	30. Chapter 30

Audrey’s not sure if she meant for them to just fall into her bed and sleep, but that’s sure as hell not what happens.

Sometime as they’re climbing the stairs a hand, she’s not sure if it’s Duke or Nathan’s, slides across her waist to steady her and an all consuming storm of _want_ roars through her. Turning she grabs onto both of them, and together they stumble their way up the stairs as she tries to kiss and undress the both of them at the same time.

In the end they do manage to make it into her apartment—although she can’t remember how they got the door unlocked and open. But after that point they only make it to the couch. Which they fall onto in a tangle, limbs every which way fumbling and grasping.

She’s down to her panties when she ends up on top of Nathan, grinding down on his bare cock as she feels Duke reach around her to play with her breasts. His own cock is hot against her ass, and she does her best to grid down on Nathan and back against him at the same time.

“Condoms? Lube?” Duke manages to pant against her ear as Nathan whimpers and arches beneath them.

She has to stop for a moment, otherwise she won’t be able to think of the answer, Nathan protests vocally. “Under. Right, front corner,” she finally pants out, leaning down to kiss Nathan in apology.

A few seconds later she hears the sound of tape ripping and finds herself grinning into Nathan’s mouth.

There’s a bit of maneuvering as they work to get a condom on Nathan, but soon enough they’re back on track and she’s sliding down onto him, while he props himself up so they can kiss properly. But she breaks away when lube-slick fingers tease her ass, a moan leaving her as head falls onto Nathan’s shoulder.

Duke’s breathing is heavy in her ear as he preps her, practice making quick work and she leans more into Nathan to give him better access as he begins to push in. “Yes,” she hisses, one of her hands flying behind her to try and grasp at Duke. She gets some of his hair and clings tightly as they begin to work up a rhythm.

“Parker,” Nathan pants as his lips slide across her cheek, down her neck, anywhere they can reach. Behind her Duke’s doing his damnedest to give the other side of her neck stubble burn.

“Free,” she responds, setting her teeth briefly into Nathan’s shoulder and relishing his gasp. “I’m free, we’re safe,” a particularly sharp thrust from Duke turns the rest of her words into a whimper. Her body seeming to move on it’s own, moving towards an orgasm it so desperately wants.

Duke copies her bite on Nathan on her. “Ours,” he groans into her ear. “And yours,” he stiffens, a low snarl rumbling from his throat. She makes a disappointed sound when he pulls out, but he’s soon back against her, his hands sliding around again to cup her breasts.

Nathan doesn’t last much longer, coming inside her with an almost broken sound. And both he and Duke relentlessly push her to her own completion.

They slump back onto the couch together, Audrey more than happy—for the moment at least—to be trapped between them. It’s wonderful because the Barn’s gone and she’s  _free_.

Barely a second later she nearly bolts upright, dislodging Duke and nearly kicking him off the couch. “James and Jennifer.” She feels vaguely horrified that she’d forgotten all about them.

Both Nathan and Duke laugh softly, Nathan tugging her back to his chest. “I think we should move to the bed,” Duke suggests. “At least there flailing doesn’t mean I nearly get a concussion.”

She manages to turn around enough to give him a good punch in the arm. “You’d heal,” she teases. “However not a bad idea.” She clings to Nathan’s shoulders as he rights himself, more than happy to let him carry her.

“They’re fine, “Nathan tells her. “Claire offer them two of the guest rooms at her house.” Audrey’s shoulder slump as they crawl under the covers.

“Maybe I should offer one of them this place, I’d be more than happy to just split my time between Nathan’s house and the _Rouge_.” She’d make due at least. They certainly need the place more than she does.

One of Duke’s hands traces abstracts designs against her back. “I was actually thinking of offering them the Crocker house,” she and Nathan stare at him, caught off guard. “What?” He asks defensively. “It’s not like I use the place. Although they’d have to live without electricity, it has hot water at least, and actual flush toilets.”

Audrey turns her head and gives Duke a soft kiss. “I like that idea, it’s good.” She feels Nathan move above her and soon his head is pushing her’s gently aside so that he and Duke can kiss. She watches with distant interest, still worn out from the fervor of earlier.

“You can offer if you’d like, but I was going to give James the guest bedroom at my house.” Out of the corner of her eye she can see him blushing.

“And lose your art space?” Duke almost sounds as shocked as she’d felt about him offering up the Crocker house.

Nathan’s blush deepens. “I don’t think it would be that much of a hardship.”

Not bothering to fight back her smile Audrey rolls over and arches up to kiss _him_. “Look at us, I’m willing to make myself homeless, Duke’s willing to open up his family home, Nathan’s willing to give up his art. We did pretty damn well for ourselves.”

Duke sniggers while Nathan gives her a half-smile. “I think we’ll do okay.”

Audrey laughs.

-

Morning dawns and Nathan’s almost unwilling to get up, half-afraid that if he does his experience after the Barn was destroyed will have been nothing but a dream, and he’ll be alone in his bed.

But the bed shifts beneath him—so maybe Duke’s with him, but how can he be sure about Audrey?—and a second later he hears familiar feminine laughter. Which turns into almost a squeal and despite his bleak thoughts he can’t help but smile, because Duke probably just goosed Parker.

Slowly he opens his eyes. His heart lifting when he sees familiar golden hair spread out across the nearby pillow, less than a second later—as if she sensed he was awake—Parker’s facing him a contented smile on her face, warmth sparking in her blue eyes. “Morning Nathan.”

“Morning Parker,” he smiles back. “Morning Duke,” he says to the half-lump over Parker’s shoulder.

“MMmghth,” it responds. And both he and Parker stifle their laughter.

Reaching out Nathan slides an arm around Parker’s waist and tugs her closer. “So,” he nuzzles her temple. “Should we go out for breakfast, or should we be nice to Duke and cook it here?” He fights to keep his tone conversational.

She grins back at him. “I don’t know, having someone else serve me food sounds kind of wonderful right now, sitting out in the sun, drinking coffee, enjoying the crisp autumn morning…”

“I hate you both,” Duke mutters as he rolls over. His hand comes out and jabs Nathan’s shoulder. “So much.”

“Now, now.” Audrey mock pouts at him. “Is that the right thing to say to the people who are going to buy you breakfast?” She rolls out of Nathan’s arms and cuddles up to Duke’s chest. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find something you like.”

Duke’s eyeroll is so exaggerated Nathan’s surprised he doesn’t strain anything. “Like the both of you just fine. Although I wouldn’t say no to waffles.”

“Heathen,” Nathan banters back.

“Sush,” Parker says primly. “He went from hating us to liking us just fine in less than five minutes, that’s a new record and we should savor it.”

Which gets a grin from himself and a huff from Duke.

It’s amazing how light Nathan feels, almost as if he would fly if he jumped off Parker’s balcony; not that he’s going to _try_. Just feeling it is enough for him, considering how long it’s been since he last felt like this. He hopes it will last, but is going to savor it for as long as it does.

“Oh uh,” Parker’s voice pulls him from his thoughts. “I know that look,” she lightly jabs his shoulder. “No serious faces.”

“Not serious,” he shoots back. “Thoughtful, about happy things.”

Parker sits up, blankets falling to her waists, her torso limned with sunlight is just another reason to fall in love with her again. “Well no being thoughtful either, come on,” she gives them both light shoves. “Breakfast, then we can find out what it’s like to meet our kids under less stressful situations.”

-

Duke might love cooking, but eating food made by other people is nice every once in a while, especially when it’s Haven Joe’s creme brulee french toast. With a groan he slumps back into his chair. Not bothering to bite back his smile when Audrey and Nathan all but follow his lead.

Part of his mind still can’t believe that the Barn is gone, that it’s not something they’ll ever have to worry about again. He has to convince himself to not look a gift horse in the mouth, otherwise he’s going to turn paranoid. One of the last things he wants to happen, paranoia drove his father, Duke’s not going to let himself fall prey to it.

Underneath the table Audrey kicks his ankle, “no being thoughtful.”

He gives a fond sigh, “hard not to be.” Turning slightly he gives her a smile. “Part of me still wants to believe this isn’t real.”

“Oh it’s real alright,” Audrey bumps his knee with hers. “Real enough that we’d be getting written up for public indecency if I had my way right now.” Nathan turns bright red and a real smile cracks Duke’s face.

He leans closer to her, “tell me more. Maybe we can orchestrate a performance somewhere less public,” he waggles his eyebrows.

Nathan opens his mouth, although Duke’s not sure if it’s to protest or try and play along, but before he’s able to speak one of their phones goes off—well Duke knows it’s not his by virtue of the fact that he didn’t bring his—and he somehow manages another fond sigh, because it’s no rest for the heroes of Haven; it’s probably too much to hope that they’ll get more than a day or two of peace and quiet.

Hopefully whatever it is is easily dealt with, and say, not this WiIliam guy already going on a rampage of one sort or another; then again if it were police business he would have thought they’d try to reach Nathan on his radio.

It’s Audrey’s phone, considering she doesn’t put it away after checking it, and he doesn’t miss the way she perks up slightly when she sees who’s calling. “Claire,” she says cheerfully. “We were planning on calling you soon, what’s up?”

Duke only half listens to the meandering conversation, the rest of him intent on mopping up the last of his food, and playing—or at least _trying_ to play—footsie with Nathan.

“Alright, see you soon then.” Without even looking she manages to trap both his and Nathan’s feet. “Claire’s gonna drop James and Jennifer off here on the way to work,” which almost makes it sound like they’re Claire’s kids and they’ve agreed to babysit. Audrey holds out a hand to both of them. “Help me up so we can talk to Joe about getting a bigger table. I’m pretty sure I just ate my own weight in food and I’m not sure I can move.”

Shaking their heads both he and Nathan help her up. Joe’s more than happy to let them move to a bigger table—they lucked out with a larger brunch party having just left—and bring over two menus for whenever James and Jennifer arrive. Gods, his _daughter_. Yesterday he still hadn’t really processed that fact, even though it hadn’t escaped his notice that she hadn’t been surprised when Audrey had said ‘two Crockers’. How did she know? More importantly he finds himself wondering how she _feels_ about it.

“Should we have some sort of plan?” Nathan’s...fretting sets Duke firmly back in the present.

“Do we need to have a plan?” Audrey replies. “I mean things are definitely going to be horribly awkward these first few meetings, but they’re adults, not criminals we’re interrogating.”

Duke presses his hip against Nathan’s, even if the other man can’t really feel it right now since there’s no skin to skin contact; But Nathan still notices it, and presses back. “She’s right, you can’t relate everything back to police work Nathan.”

Nathan blushes again, “horrible. The both of you.” He and Audrey share a smile.

The bell above the door rings and like they’re meerkats or something—which is an amusing mental image—they turn their heads to see who it is.

Jennifer and James are bundled up against the late autumn chill. But those layers are quickly shed and hung up or stuffed into coat pockets. And in this enclosed space it’s easy to overhear them, even over everyone else—at least it is for Duke.

“I didn’t think I would be so nervous,” Jennifer mutters to James as they begin to head over. “I don’t even know if I can eat, and all the smells from the kitchen seem amazing. But if I had food then I could have a reason not to talk, you know?”

James gives a little laugh, and attempts to throw his arm around her shoulders—an interesting sight considering there’s at least a foot difference in their heights. “It’ll be fine, Nathan and Duke are good guys, and Audrey cares.”

They exchange some sort of one armed hug and then they’re there, standing in front of the table. “Hi,” Jennifer says in a rush.

“Hi,” Audrey responds with a shade too much forced cheer, right awkward. “We already ate, but you’re welcome to order anything if you’d like.”

They sit, and Duke can all but see the nervousness filling up the area around them. Joe hurries over with waters. “Can I get you both something to drink?”

James demures, but Jennifer studies the drinks list with a sort of single minded intensity. “Could I get...a mimosa?” She sounds tentative.

 _Something_ in the air ratchets up a notch as Joe looks at her for a second, then glances at Audrey and Nathan. “Can I...see some ID?”

If Duke wasn’t certain it’d be taken the completely wrong way he’d bury his head in his hands and laugh until he couldn’t anymore. But Jennifer turns beet red—from Audrey, considering how many people, Nathan included, have accused Duke of never blushing a day in his life—and hides her face behind her menu. “I don’t have anything. Sorry.”

“She’s good Joe, she’s my…” Now Audrey was the one looking like she wished the ground might swallow her whole. “My daughter.” The words cause Jennifer’s head to shoot up and Joe to blink, accepting it in his own Haven way.

“Alright, I have that right out then.” He vanishes and Duke buries his face in Nathan’s shoulder, because he’s considerate like that. And he really _shouldn’t_ be laughing because this is Jennifer and James’ first day back in the world, in who knows how long in Jennifer’s case, and _of course_ they probably don’t want things to be awkward; but this is Haven and if it can go wrong it will.

“You okay there Duke?” _James_ of all people asks, the way he says it both familial because it’s _James_ , and because it’s so damn similar to Nathan—how the hell did he not realize that before?

He takes a few deep breaths, apparently the frantic ‘we survived’ sex wasn’t enough to relieve the tension coiling in him; but now he feels like he can relax again. “Sorry,” he pulls away from Nathan and looks at Jennifer. “Things have been...hectic.”

She narrows her eyes at him for a moment. “Okay,” it’s at least an acknowledgement, if not forgiveness. Her eyes go back to her menu, her face pulling into confusion a few seconds later. “What do they mean by ‘organic’? I mean I know the word, but isn’t all food organic? Ooo, do we have food replicators now?”

It’s James who chuckles this time, and Jennifer swats him with her menu.

But he, Nathan, and Audrey share a look, this is going to be...interesting.

-

 _Forty years_ , that’s how long Jennifer’s been asleep in the Barn, nearly half her life. She thinks if they were in New York City the sheer amount of change would have been overwhelming, as it is there’s things about Haven that feel too much—and James had commented on the way over that it didn’t look like Haven had changed after all since the _eighties_.

She’s always prided herself on being able to thrive in a certain amount of uncertainty, but there was such a thing as too much. But so far the world seems to be going easy on her, and she’ll take it.

Huddling further into her coat she walks down main street, wondering if she’ll ever get over the embarrassing breakfast. Her birth parents are not at all what she expected—then again except for biology could Audrey really be considered her birth mother? Nana had explained the whole Barn thing as it related to ‘mom’ but it hadn’t really sunk in for Jennifer.

In a way James is lucky, he has less to catch up on, more experience with Haven—with his own father even—some part of her wants to call it unfair, which is hardly appropriate.

She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, now, focus on right now.

Stopping at a crosswalk she looks around and finds a faint, but definitely fond, smile on her face. The town is decked out for Halloween tomorrow, and even if she doesn’t understand some of the references, there’s enough familiar touchstones that she can’t help but be comforted. Halloween’s always been her favorite holiday, and she’s pleased that she finally gets to experience it again.

Inhaling again she smells hay and finds her smile growing. And having no reason not to she follows it, wanting to curl up next to it and remember her childhood on the Mason farm.

But she’s so intent on following the smell she is decidedly not looking where she’s going. So it’s no surprise she runs face first into what feels like a wall.

A wall that reaches out and catches her before she falls on her ass at least. Rubbing her nose she actually _looks_ , pleasantly surprised to see the hunky blond giant from yesterday, _Dwight_ , she recalls. “Hi,” she moves her hand so he can see her smile. “Sorry about running into you, I got distracted by the smell of hay.”

His own smile is bemused. “It’s alright,” he looks down as if just realizing he’d still had a hold of her arm, and quickly lets go. “Uh, how’re you?”

“I’ve been better,” she admits with a shrug. “But things could be worse.” She could still be asleep in the Barn, breakfast could have gotten _more_ mortifying after the drinks thing, she could suddenly wake up and realize that the last seventy or so years was only a dream. “How about you?” This, this she could do; minor social interactions, no pressure to impress. Easy peasy.

“Getting ready for Halloween tomorrow with…” He drifts off and looks around as if realize he’s alone. An aggravated sigh, one she’s been on the receiving end of many times as a child, leaves him. “Excuse me, I apparently have to go look for my daughter,” his fond exasperation makes Jennifer smile.

On the other hand she’s a little disappointed because she should have _noticed_ he was married, except when she risks a glance to his left hand she doesn’t see a wedding band, huh, interesting. Maybe some of the sixties free-love stuff had stuck around, she’d have to do some digging—not that she didn’t have enough already what with missing the past 40 years.

“Good luck,” she tells him, and she gets a grateful smile in response as he turns around and heads the way he probably came.

With a gusty sigh she throws herself onto the nearest bench.

Despite it being a Saturday Haven seems peaceful, there aren’t that many people out and about, which her reporter instincts find curious, but right now she’s processing too much to figure out why. “Just be,” she mutters to herself, “live in the moment.” She can’t change the past and worrying _too_ much about the future will drive her to distraction.

Across the street the gardening store is decked out like all the others, a few flickering jack o’lanterns, a homely scarecrow, it’s quaint and cute and it makes her smile. She might have loved living in New York, and later Boston, but she grew up in a town even smaller than Haven, and it’s sort of nice to be in such a place.

Some other life finally enters the street in the form of some teenagers, looking like they might be up to something. Right, devil’s night if tomorrow is Halloween; although you’d think they’d have the decency to wait until _dark_ to cause their chaos.

“Hey,” James’, her _younger brother’s_ , voice approaches and she pulls her attention away from the teens to watch him take the spot next to her on the bench. “You alright?”

She looks back across the street at the scarecrow and shrugs. “I have no idea. Things have just been happening so fast…” At least to her. True in the scale of ‘fast’ not a whole lot’s happened, but she...she doesn’t know. She needs painkillers of some sort, or maybe some acid or pot.

“Yeah,” James agrees. “I don’t know, it’s so.. _weird._ I mean I worked with Nathan and Chief Wuornos for _months_ when I came here to Haven right after Lucy did, and it never occurred to me he was my _dad_. When Lucy or I asked people about Sarah no one ever talked about her being in a relationship.” He sighed. “Now I have to wonder why that might have been, what were they trying to keep from us?”

Jennifer lets herself scoot a little closer to him. “I didn’t even have that,” she’s not trying to say she had it worse than him, just that her experience was different. “When my parents, when my _adoptive_ parents died, I found my adoption records, it didn’t list any parentage, just that the man who’d overseen the adoption was a Mr. Howard, and that I’d been born in Haven, Maine.” And then she’d only been here a week before she got shoved into the Barn like an unwanted toy; all she’d done was destroy a guy’s bike when he wouldn’t take no for an answer from a pretty young woman. What was wrong with that? It certainly hadn’t been the first time she’d done it.

James slings an arm around her shoulder and pulls her close. “Well there’s no Barn anymore, now we just have to figure ourselves out and try to live in this new world.”

“Easier said than done,” she responds tartly. “I mean the last time I heard the word ‘computer’ it meant a woman who did computational math, and now it’s a machine.” It’s staggering how much the world’s changed.

“I think I can handle the technology parts, it’s the politics and global stuff that’s got me hung up.” Out of the corner of her eye she sees a self-deprecating smile on his face.

Leaping up she spins around and grabs his arm, tugging at him. “Well there’s only one thing for it then.” She tugs again, managing to get him halfway off the bench—she’s always liked that she’s stronger than she looks. “We’re having a field trip.”

James finally gets with the program and stands. “And where exactly are we going?”

“The library.” She keeps her grip on his arm and turns around. “Now...where is it?”

-

James enters the Gull and it’s a strange sort of instant comfort. The interior design hasn’t changed much since the last night he was here, his mind tries to skitter away from that—because it was the night before he _died_ —but he won’t let it. He can’t let his death dictate everything, he’s gotten a second chance and he’s not going to let it go to waste.

The bar’s the same too, and the fond memories that fill him when he sits makes him smile. The taps are newer however, beers he doesn’t recognize. “So what’s good?” He finds himself grinning at Duke’s back—and how distracted must he be that he didn’t notice James’ arrival?

Duke does a hilarious little jump and whirls around, “don’t freaking do that. I’d complain about you trying to give me a heart attack if you wouldn’t go after it.” But there’s a smile lingering around the edges of Duke’s mouth as he produces a little cup and pours out from one of the taps. “Try it.”

He takes the glass and just stares at the golden liquid for a moment, it only feels like yesterday he was having drinks with Duke and Lucy, basking in good friendship and a mother who loved him, even if she didn’t remember him. But it’s been twenty-seven years since that night, twenty-seven years where everyone thought he was dead—and Christ, what was he going to tell Arla? _Should_ he even try and get in touch with her? She’s probably thought him dead for so long that she might not even love him anymore. For all he knows she’s moved on.

Absently he twists his engagement ring; guilt at leaving her behind gnawing on him again. Or if she hasn’t moved on she probably hates him, leaving her for the mere promise of meeting his mother.

“Getting maudlin’s better when you’re drunk you know.” James snorts at Duke’s not so subtle ribbing and he tries the beer. It’s nice, a good amount of hops and pleasantly smooth taste.

“It’s good,” he says. And without further prompting Duke pours him a whole pint.

“On the house kiddo,” James can feel his ears burning slightly at the old endearment, it certainly feels stranger now to hear than it had before.

He takes a sip, enjoying the flavor, before trying to get back at Duke. “So...if you’re dating my dad and my mom,” and there was a mental image he’d rather not have thank you very much, though he’s happy they’ve found, well happiness. “Does that make you my dad too?” He doesn’t really mean it, but Duke deserves it for the ‘kiddo’ comment.

Duke stares at him for a long moment, and there’s a brief moment where James wonders if he pushed too far. But then Duke snorts, “fuck no. Cool uncle, _maybe_ , but that still might be pushing it.”

“Language,” a man’s voice croaks from the other end of the bar.

“Frank you’re eighty,” Duke shoots back good naturedly, “you’ve heard worse than that.” But when he looks back at James his expression is serious again. “But I’d be kind of happy just to be friends again. I missed you.”

Blinking back tears James takes another drink. “Thanks,” it comes out a bit hoarse, but it didn’t really matter. “I missed you too, missed Haven, even if it doesn’t feel like it’s been twenty-seven years.” In a way it’s a sort of relief that those twenty-seven years in the Barn passed in what amounted to the blink of an eye; he would have been a wreck if time had moved the same.

Although he thinks nana would have tried to haul him back to sanity if it had come to that. Her brief visits were definitely high points either way. He just wishes he could have gotten to know Jennifer during that time, he doesn’t doubt they’ll both make the attempt now, they’d already taken the first steps last night and again at the library, but it’s a missed opportunity none the less.

“Good,” Duke reaches over the bar and claps him on the shoulder, “just don’t let it happen again. Now that Nathan knows you’re his son I think a second time would hit him even harder.” And no mention of himself or Audrey—his wan smile is hidden behind his glass—yet James thinks he knows what Duke means.

To think all this time he’d been _working_ with his father, and never knew. It sort of blows his mind really, and at least he’s not the only one if the strange way Nathan acts sometimes is anything to go by. Yet he’s also glad to know who his father finally is; it makes him wonder if his powers came from Nathan, or from some part of Audrey...Sarah? He shakes his head, if he thinks too hard on that he’s probably going to give himself a headache.

It hadn’t bothered him with Lucy, but well he’d learned about _her_ first, and hadn’t found out she was somehow also Sarah until later. He’s sure the same will happen to Audrey once he gets to know her. “Not planning to,” he agrees, although at least now the only reasons he might disappear are more ‘mundane’ ones. Ones that are easier to deal with than centuries old pacts and Barns.

“But how have you been?” He looks around again. “Seems like the Gull’s doing well.” It’s the off season, but there are still a good amount of Havenites here enjoying the food.

“I’ve had worse times,” Duke says. “And except for a few close calls this year things have been _very_ good. ” He waggles his eyebrows in a way that implies things James would rather not think about thank you very much, but he also knows Duke well enough to know that the man is hedging about _something_. He’s just not sure how to ask—he should tell Jennifer about it, she’s the regular Nancy Drew of the pair of them.

He takes another drink. “Great, thanks, that’s exactly what I needed to know.” He rolls his eyes. “So what’s a guy gotta do to get some grub around here?” Despite Duke’s earlier crack he’s not interested in getting drunk this early in the day, and he’d always liked the Gull’s food.

“Just you wait,” Duke grins as he hands him a menu. “Food’s gotten a lot better since you were around. Pretty sure whatever you pick is going to blow your mind.”

James snorts, finding it highly unlikely. “Right…” He drawls.

Duke gives him an affronted look. “You and your mother both,” Duke gripes. “Doubting my culinary know how. It’s a conspiracy I tell you.”

A warm smile crosses James’ face, liking how that sounds, he and his mother; he likes how easily Duke says it too, like it’s _natural_. “I guess I’ll be having the…” his eyes scan the burgers section. “Really you have a halo burger?” He’s not sure whether to laugh or roll his eyes.

“Hey, it’s got onion rings on it, those are totally halo shaped, not my fault if you make a connection to someone.” James rolls his eyes again, he’d forgotten about that part of Duke. And he wonders if Nathan’s actually noticed the subtle ribbing or not. He finds himself making a real smile at the thought.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NGL folks, the last scene in this chapter is one of my faves.
> 
> 'ð' is pronounced 'th'.

Halloween dawns a cold and foggy Sunday.

The Church goers brave the autumn bite first, masks firmly in place as they make their way to their places of worship—for while they were the first of Haven out they are not the only beings roaming the streets.

As the sun rises higher the fog begins to burn away, revealing a fine autumn splendor; the whole of the world appearing to celebrate the day.

Despite the cheer in which most greet the holiday, there is, as always, a faint undercurrent of fear.  For this is a day not for the living, but for the dead. Not for this world, but for the Other.

And this is a new Haven now, anything might be possible.

-

Duke hoists the barrel onto his shoulders with ease, the liquid sloshing about nearly throwing off his balance for a few seconds. But he manages to right himself quickly, probably because Nathan rushes in to help like some knight in shining armor—although his current state of dress would suggest more Victorian gentleman. It’s sweet and it makes Duke bite back a smile, and mutter a quick thanks.

“Jesus,” Audrey steps around the both of them. “How much does that thing weigh?” She’s wearing one of those lacy things that’s a mask in name only—he is a little disappointed he couldn’t convince her to wear something more festive, but he understands her reasons—and her clothes are certainly more formal than her usual dress. Although the pack she’s carrying for Nathan ruins the image slightly.

He’d shrug, but that would possibly upset the barrel again. “About 320 pounds,” but it’s not the heaviest thing he’s ever had to carry a long distance, and at least he’s only got to carry it one way.  He wrinkles his nose when it begins to itch under his bauta mask, and he mutters another thanks when Audrey reaches out to scratch it.

“So how is this different from May Day?” Audrey asks as they begin walking into the Brambles.

“Well we don’t threaten each other,” Nathan answers with a bit of a smile. “And we get stuff.”

Nathan helps steady him as they head up a steeper part of trail. “And there’s fewer of us that go.” He’s certainly never seen any of the Mayors Brody go, Vince and Dave usually do although this year it wouldn’t surprise him if they didn’t show.

“It always feels more festive.” Nathan adds. “Less...fraught. There’s always still the possibility that someone gets stolen away, but it happens less than it does on May Day.”

“Because even the fairies respect the dead Nathan,” Duke explains. It’s one of the few things his father told him that he’s more than happy to remember. In fact Halloween had always been one of the few bright spots in the year as a child—although as a holiday it’s changed drastically.

“I know that,” Nathan defends, while Audrey gives a fond huff.

They get a few more feet before Audrey speaks again. “But if we’re exchanging gifts shouldn’t I have brought something too? I mean Nathan’s got his art, you brewed your own beer?” She still sounds slightly disbelieving of it, which offends Duke a little.

“Pumpkin ale,” he corrects. Because that’s the tradition he grew up with, and really pumpkin ale was a helluva lot more American than beer. “And I’m not sure, I mean you’ve…” He drifts off, it’s not a bad thing to say, but it still makes them all pensive, _‘you’ve never experienced this before’_. This is new territory for all of them.

Finally they break through into the clearing, the Queen and some of her court are already waiting for them.

Her red eyes widen slightly when she sees Audrey between himself and Nathan. “We had felt the shudders of old magic breaking, yet I do not think any of us expected this.” The Queen inclines her head slightly. “A fine autumn’s greeting to you Guardian, may we experience many more together.”

“A sentiment I’ll certainly drink do,” Duke chimes in, finally setting the barrel down in front of the Queen. “For you, your majesty. The first barrel of this year’s batch.” To be fair he’d only done a few this year, he brews it more out of habit than anything else, not many people enjoy pumpkin ale.

“We accept it graciously Crocker.” At a gesture one of her attendants brings out a wine thief and a cup. Duke helps him pry out the bung and then steps back as the horned man fills the cup and hands it to the Queen. She drinks and gives a small smile. “Delicious.”

The cup gets filled again and is offered to Duke. He drinks, enjoying the mixture of spices he’d went with this year and the underlying pumpkin taste.

He hands it back and the cup continues to make it rounds, ending with Audrey.”Wow,” she says after taking a small sip. “You’re good at this Duke.” He huffs and gives her a fond smile.

The attendant puts the bung back into the barrel and hiding away the thief and cup takes it onto his own shoulders and carries it away.

“We had a different gift selected for you this year Duke,” the Queen speaks. “But when we felt the magic breaking and sensed War’s son stepping into our town,” Duke’s glad he’s not the only one taken slightly aback by those words. He wouldn’t have expected the fairies to notice, let alone care. “We worked to think of a different gift that would fit these new circumstances.” She gestures again and a woman steps forward, the leaves of her dress rustling as she moves.

In her hands is a wrapped bundle, not very big—she could probably fit it in one hand, although she’s carrying it with both. With a slow, ritual pace she brings it to him, and he finds himself getting vaguely antsy as he stares at the bundle.

She comes to a stop in front of him and offers up her hands. With due reverence, although like with Christmas presents he finds he just wants to rip into it, he begins to unfold the cloth. He does it so much that he has to wonder how small is the gift he’s receiving?

Finally he’s at the last fold and flipping it over he sees exactly what could be that small.

Rings. Three of them. One of silver, one of gold, and one of bronze. He picks up the gold one to see it’s covered in intricate interweave, the weave of it suggesting animals or maybe people.

“The silver is called Ástivarði, the gold Niðeldr, and the bronze Urðrrún; they were forged by Völundr the smith. They were given to us for safe-keeping but we have been told they should be passed to you now. Their gifts are unknown to us but perhaps in time you shall know them,” only fairies would be given magic rings and not wonder what they _did_.

Picking up the rings, which have an almost surprising weight to them, he slides them into a pocket—he’s got no real interest in putting them on any time soon, not until he finds out they won’t do permanent harm to him. “I accept your gifts, I will do my best to use them.” Which doesn’t mean he _will_ by any stretch, but it’s what he can ‘promise’.

The Queen nods.

And then it’s Nathan's’ turn, and if they’re giving him rings, then Duke’s not even sure he _wants_ to know what Nathan’s getting. But they go through the same sort of ritual, Nathan offering up some of his paintings—some sort mixed media thing that’s bold and eye catching—and one of Queen’s attendants whisking them away after the Queen’s inspected them.

The only attendant left, whose skin matches the pattern and color of the nearby trees, walks forward. The wrapped bundle in their hands is longer, bigger than Duke’s had been. And despite himself Duke is curious.

“It has probably been some time since you last held one, but we thought it might be time for you to once again.” The Queen speaks as Nathan’s hands, trembling slightly, reach out to pull back the cloth.

There laying on the cloth, almost innocuously, is a gladius. Hell Duke hasn’t seen one of those in _years_. The leather work on the sheath alone is a work of art, and the grip is made of a pale material that Duke can’t quite make out, inlaid with copper wire to improve grip. Duke can’t help but watch as Nathan picks it up, unsheathing the sword itself in one easy, breathtaking move.

“What is it with this place and archaic weapons?” Audrey mutters to him, not exactly a gripe, but it’s clear she doesn’t quite understand the fascination. He doesn’t hold it against her. But he does understand where she’s coming from, sometimes there’s a wonderful sort of satisfaction in dealing with your enemies with a gun, it’s certainly a lot less work. Yet he also knows the _other_ sort of satisfaction that comes from wielding a sword and feeling the hot spray of blood—at least if you got your opponent in the right spot.

Nathan gives the sword a few test swings. “The Gladius was based on the weapons we Angels wielded.” There’s a thread of awe in his voice.

“Just so,” the Queen inclines her head slightly. “We have none that could have made you a true weapon such as that, but we thought the closest mortal approximation would suffice for one such as yourself.”

“I…” Nathan for once looks at a loss for words. “I don’t know how to express how grateful I am.” Duke finds himself nudging Audrey, who picks up his hint beautifully and takes the step between herself and Nathan, putting her hand over the one still holding the sheath. Nathan lets out a shuddering breath.

“No words better than that are needed,” the Queen responds. “That is the highest praise one can have. We are glad our gifts are appreciated.” Nathan sheaths the gladius and using the belt attached to the sheath slings it over his shoulder. “It shall be your duty to name it and use it well.”

“Do you have anything to offer us?” The Queen’s full attention turns to Audrey. “We will be honest and say that we have nothing for you in return, we had not expected you, despite the breaking.”

“That’s...fine,” Audrey looks awkward and Duke steps up behind her, placing a comforting hand at the small of her back. “I didn’t think to bring anything, I’m not sure _what_ I would bring.”

The Queen gives a brief smile. “As we have nothing to give, we expect nothing to receive. Although I will give a word of warning, and expect nothing in return. Your kind can be easily injured should War’s son discover what you are, the mimic’s actions were a fluke in that regard, so keep that truth as best you can.”

Audrey’s face doesn’t exactly harden, but it certainly doesn’t ease. “I understand, your words are appreciated.” She gave a curtsy, it did look odd though, what with her not wearing a skirt.

“Then before you leave I wish to make something clear, so that there is no confusion among us. We will not assist you in this opposition of War’s son.”

“What?” Audrey almost sounds offended, Duke presses his hand a bit more against her in warning. He doesn't think it will offend the Queen, but better safe than sorry. Over her head he and Nathan share a glance, ready to hie out of there should the need call for it.

Luck was with them, or the Queen couldn’t be bothered to be offended, because she only shrugs, her garnet eyes staring at Audrey. “We are far too few to even entertain the idea, even the death of five of us is too much considering our numbers, we have only survived so long here because of our own deal with Haven. And, I shall be perfectly frank, it is not our battle to fight.” He could feel the thrum of shock run through Audrey at that.

“This is between you and him Audrey Parker, and it is not in our nature to interfere.” Before Audrey could even protest the Queen turned and began walking the same path her entourage had earlier, her dress sushing against the falling leaves and leaving the three of them alone in the clearing.

All three of them lost in their own thoughts they began to make their way back out of the Brambles.

The Queen’s words about Audrey stick in Duke’s brain, his own gift clutched in his hands. No one will find out what Audrey is, not if he’s got anything to say about it.

-

Audrey wishes she could enjoy the festivities around her—her first Halloween in, what, nearly four hundred years?—but she can’t, too nervous about what the future might bring. She’s free, and so are James and Jennifer, but now there’s William to deal with.

William who wants _her_ , for reasons unknown.

The bench she’s on shifts a little as someone sits, and without thought she finds herself reaching for her gun, cursing her inattentiveness as she turns her head.

It’s not William, her body sags against the back of the bench. It’s Lizzie who, thankfully, doesn’t seem to have notice Audrey’s slightly panicked actions. “Where’s your dad?” She finds herself asking.

“Over there,” Lizzie broadly gestures to the food stalls—it’s almost like Founder’s Day, but with different decorations. Her lanky legs move, her shoes scuffing against the pavement. She’s dressed as a Hogwart’s student, a red and gold tie around her neck, she’s got the same sort of striped pattern painted on her face, Audrey guesses it’s enough of a mask to count.

Part of Audrey wants to be worried that Lizzie’s so lackadaisical about where her dad is, but Audrey reasons that in a place this crowded William or his henchman would have a hard time getting to anyone, especially a berserker like Dwight. “You enjoying Halloween?” It’s sort of nice just to have a conversation, and not worry about things like not causing discord.

“Yeah,” but Lizzie still made a face. “But I can’t stay up late ‘cause I’ve got school tomorrow.”

A laugh escapes Audrey. “That sucks,” she has ‘memories’ of Halloweens like that, but she knows they’re only illusions given to her by the Barn, to make her think she’s a different person.

Not that she’s started to think she’s Mara, fuck no, she meant what she said when she’d called herself Audrey Parker when they were destroying the Barn, but it’s still disconcerting to think too long about what those false memories mean.

“Why the long face?” Claire’s voice breaks Audrey from her train of thought and her head shoots up to see the other woman standing in front of her—again part of Audrey curses her lack of awareness. She’s dressed like a cheerleader, pom-poms in one hand, what looks like a wooden stake in the other. “Hey Lizzie,” Claire smile at the young girl.

“Hi, doctor Callihan! I love your costume,” and wow Audrey feels _old_ for some reason.

Claire grins, “thanks.” Unprompted, but not unwelcome, she takes the seat on the other side of Audrey. “So how’ve you been Audrey?” They haven’t had a chance to talk since before the Barn, and it’s certainly been a long few days.

“Hey Lizzie,” a young boy dressed as a Jedi and wearing a mask with alien features runs up to them. “Be my partner in the three-legged race?” He sounds earnest enough that it’s cute.

Lizzie looks to her and Claire, as if for permission. “If your dad stops by we’ll let him know,” Audrey reassures.

Which causes Lizzie to brighten, “thanks!” She jumps up. “Come on Liam,” with her standing it’s easy to tell that she’s at least half a foot taller than Liam. “We’ll cream them all.” Looping her arm through his she starts pulling him along. Audrey watches it all with a nostalgic sort of smile.

At least until Claire nudges her. “Come on, you didn’t answer my question.” Right.

“Things have been...off and on.” She’s not sure of a better way to describe it. “I mean we’re all glad that the Barn’s gone, but it’s like we’re on tenterhooks because apparently the Barn was keeping someone out, and now, well he’s _in_ , and he wants me.” Audrey finds she wants to clutch something in her hands, just to squeeze it.

“He was the guy in my vision,” she continues. “Oh and I met my mother, who’s...well herself.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “And it’s kind of hard with Jennifer and James, like I _want_ to get along with them and be close to them, but…” she heaves a gusty sigh.

Claire’s hand wraps around her shoulder and pulls her close, Audrey goes, resting her head on Claire’s shoulder. “I thought things would get easier after we destroyed the Barn.”

The laugh Claire gives is one of commiseration. “Oh Audrey, what gave you that idea?” Audrey gives a bitter laugh of her own at the question. “I don’t know about William, and I’m pretty sure I’d need to know more about your mother to form an opinion on him. But at least on the front of your kids I have _some_ experience. I mean not your thing exactly.”

“I was just about to say, I didn’t know you were so experienced,” even though she’s teasing her own words only draw a wan smile from her.

With a roll of her eyes Claire huffs. “Ha ha. I’ve dealt a few times with parents who’ve given their children up for adoption, and then encountering those kids later on when they’re adults and have sought out their birth parents. It’s hard for them, so it’s understandable that it’s hard for you. So,” Claire pushes Audrey away slightly then turns her so they’re eye to eye. “You’ve got no right to beat yourself up over this you hear me Audrey Prudence Parker? So you’re not perfect, I don’t think anyone here cares.”

A smile tugs at Audrey’s lips, Claire might have a point, but Audrey’s still going to dwell on it in the dark hours of night when those sorts of things seem more important. The only thing that will probably reassure her is time, and she’s not sure if she’s going to get that anytime soon.

“Prudence is not exactly the name I would have pinned you with,” Kat’s voice has a teasing note to it and Audrey finds herself smiling for real as she turns to look at the other woman. Whose costume is outrageous enough that she has fake _birds_ in her hair, one of those masks on a stick being held up to her face.

“Hey Kat,” Audrey responds, choosing not to acknowledge her hidden question. “You here to steal Claire away before she does more work?” Claire laughs.

And Kat grins, “got it in one detective.” She holds a hand out. “Come on honey, no work remember?”

Taking her girlfriend’s hand Claire gives an exaggerated sigh. “You’re no fun. But fine, whisk me away to a grand adventure. I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself. We’re definitely talking later though Audrey, give me a call tomorrow okay?”

“Alright,” Audrey agrees. “And thanks for listening, and for giving James and Jennifer a place to stay.” It’s a burden she shouldn’t have to bear, but does anyways.

Claire just gives a wave as she walks off.

With a soft sort of sigh Audrey slumps back into the bench her head falling back to stare up at the autumn sky, fluffy clouds floating past uncaring. She wishes she could be like them...well alright she doesn’t really. This is _her_ town and she’s certain she won’t ever stop caring for it, or the people in it, or for Duke and Nathan and her family. But it would still be nice to not have to worry about trouble for the rest of her life.

-

Nathan finds himself trailing after Duke, for a lack of anything better to do, Audrey had asked for some time alone and they’d given it to her. Although he’s certain that Duke’s keeping an ear on her, just in case things start to go wrong.

“Are you actually going to walk next to me, or just trail after me like a lost puppy?” There’s a faint trace of amusement under Duke’s fond tone, and it should annoy Nathan, but it doesn’t.

Instead he finds himself heaving a put upon sigh, that’s more for effect than anything. And walking up to Duke, lacing the fingers of one and through Duke’s own. “Better?” It at doesn’t come out angry like he feared. The gladius he received from the Queen has left him feeling...unmoored. It’s something he hasn’t wielded in a long time, and to hold one again—even if it was crafted by non-angelic hands—brings up memories he finds he’d rather it didn’t.

Which all boils down to him wanting to lash out, but he doesn’t exactly want to do that to Duke, or Audrey. He’s probably not a good person for wanting something bad to happen just so he can get some of this out—in a manner he knows Claire would call unhealthy—of his system.

Duke’s fingers tightening around Nathan’s own draws him back to reality. “It’s just fine.” Duke tells him easily, and if he’s picking up on Nathan’s unfocused anger slash discomfort it doesn’t show. “You need new soap right?” Duke asks as they meander towards the next stall.

“Are you implying I smell bad?” He responds as his eyes just sort of float over the selection of handmade soaps. The mixture of smells is something else, although Nathan wouldn't call it _bad_.

“Most definitely not,” amusement glitter’s in Duke’s eyes. “But there’s also more to soap than that bargin stuff you buy.” Just last year Nathan would have thought that an insult, now, well, he knows it’s not an insult, but he’s also not sure _what_ exactly it is. 

His mind tangles, wanting to tell Duke that, but not sure _how_ ; and it gets caught up in the maelstrom of confusion and anger from before and...Nathan finds himself grasping Duke’s arm with his free hand. “I need…” Except he can’t articulate _what_ it is he needs, his throat half feeling like it’s about to close up.

“Hey, hey,” Duke soothes, and Nathan realizes he’s being led somewhere but doesn’t exactly know _where_. Everything in him focusing on that soothing voice and Duke’s warm arm under his hands.

Moments later his nose fills with all too familiar smells: floor polish and the faint burn from a struggling air conditioner, a few too many bodies, acrid old coffee, and eventually leather and the familiar vague mustiness of his and Audrey’s office.

Duke guides him down to sit on the couch and Nathan doesn’t fight when Duke pushes his head between his knees. “Deep breaths Nate,” he feels a hand running through his hair, he’d call it petting, but it’s too nice for him to actually worry about things like that. “Come on, breathe with me here. In,” Duke exaggerates an inhale and Nathan thoughtlessly finds himself following suit. “Hold. And out,” again Nathan follows Duke’s actions. Grateful that he keeps doing it, giving Nathan a guide.

The hand moves from his hair to rub at the back of his neck, thumb running soothing circles. “That’s it,” Duke croons. “Good. Just let it happen, it’ll pass.”

Duke keeps talking, but the words become meaningless as Nathan’s mind seems to reach the apex of turmoil.

But the touch and the timbre of Duke’s voice hold him down somewhat, something to cling to in the chaos.

Like water trickling out of a bucket however that feeling of chaos does begin to leave him. His maelstrom of thoughts is still there, as inescapable as ever. But the panic over them begins to leave, and he begins to realize he’s just had a panic attack. _Him_.

Before he would have thought it impossible, but it apparently wasn’t. The whole experience leaving him feeling strange. Which doesn’t help him deal with his thoughts in the least.

Feeling up for it he slowly raises his head, grateful the world doesn’t spin when he’s finally upright.

“How you doing?” Duke’s hand’s still rubbing the back of Nathan’s neck and Duke’s voice is still in soothing mode; both of which Nathan appreciates.

Shakily he exhales. “Better.” It doesn't’ feel like he’ll slip back into the attack—he doesn’t even know if that’s _possible_ —but with the thoughts that _caused_ the attack still being dwelled upon, well he’s back to where he’d been before.

On an impulse born of the need to distract himself, he turns and nearly tackles Duke, smashing their mouths together sloppily. He manages to catch Duke off guard and they fall onto the rest of the couch. Duke grunts into Nathan’s mouth and Nathan feels a little bad at him probably having hit the arm of the couch, but it falls to the wayside quickly in the wake of _kissing_  and _Duke_.

Nathan doesn’t even care if someone walks in on them, his whole being focused on his actions.

At least until Duke manages to break away. “Woah, woah.” Nathan buries his face in the crook of Duke’s neck, lips mouthing at the skin there. Duke pushes him away, his strength keeping them at about half arms-length. “What’s wrong?” Duke hisses, but Nathan can tell he would be shouting it if they were really alone.

He breath leaves him in pants, and he finds himself wishing Duke weren’t so damned _concerned_. If he wasn’t they’d still be kissing and Nathan would have the distraction he craves. Instead Duke doesn’t look like he’ll be giving up this line of questioning anytime soon.

An aggravated sound leaves Nathan, and he tries to press back down so he can at least not _look_ at Duke while he talks—it’s not quite out of embarrassment, but there’s a certain ease of speech when you’re not looking at who you’re talking to—but Duke’s arms don’t give. “I, I need a distraction.” Since he can’t lie on Duke he turns his head to stare at the cracked cushions of the couch. “My brain, I’ve been, my thoughts,” he hisses and shakes his head. “Everything’s all tangled up, don’t want to deal with it.”

Duke makes a soft sound and before Nathan realizes it he’s falling the short distance to land on Duke, who doesn’t even react to the ‘suddenness’ of his weight pressing down. “When did this start happening?”

“This morning,” he admits, happily burying his face in the crook of Duke’s neck. “Since the Queen gave me the gladius.” Duke’s smell—a different sort of must from the one in the office, and some spice Nathan doesn’t know the name of—helps calm him a little, but it’s still not enough. “I’m remembering things…” He doesn’t want to say more than that, trying to convey his angelic memories isn’t really possibly with mortal languages.

A hand begins rubbing his back and Duke huffs. “Leave it to a fairy gift,” he mutters and Nathan finds himself sniggering. “Want me to call Audrey? See if she can help? Or Claire?”

Nathan probably _should_ talk to Claire, her perspective is always an interesting one; on the other hand she’s not working today. “I’ll make an appointment with Claire later,” if he remembers. “But you could call Audrey.” The both of them will probably help more than his currently-pessimistic brain thinks they can.

Before Duke can try to maneuver to get his phone though the door opens. The both of them tilt their heads to see who it is.

James stares at them for a second before his ears pinken—this amuses Nathan for some reason. “Uh, Mo- _Audrey_ , was getting worried, something about Duke possibly getting you into trouble?”

Duke makes a protesting sound, while Nathan just shakes his head. “We’re fine,” if in what might be considered a slightly compromising position. “Could you let her know we want to talk.” Look, he’s even taking the initiative—Claire would be proud.

“Yeah,” James nods and beats a hasty retreat. An action that leaves him and Duke laughing quietly.

The hand that Duke’s been rubbing his back with moves from rubbing to petting. “After we try to work some stuff out if you still want sex I’m more than willing,” Duke waggles his eyebrows.

Nathan snorts. “Like there was any doubt.”

-

With Duke and Nathan having retreated to the _Rouge_ for some alone time—there is a part of her, she finds, that wishes she could at least be watching, although she’ll let them have their time—Audrey had decided she might as well try to get to know Jennifer and James a little better; hopefully with fewer awkward moments.

They were supposed to be waiting for her at a table at Black House, but when she exits, coffees in hand, it’s to find them gone and Conli in their place.

She’s...plumper than she was the other day, her features more rounded. She’s wearing a white sundress, seemingly heedless of the cold, and her white hair is shorter as well, brushing her shoulders instead of falling down her back. Her lack of a mask makes her stand out even more than her Whiteness.

“Where’s James and Jennifer?” She approaches warily—even the lenses of Conli’s sunglasses are white and it’s disconcerting as fuck—this woman might be her mother but that doesn’t mean she’s just going to welcome the her with open arms.

Conli shrugs, thankfully taking off her sunglasses. “I asked them to give us half an hour, I thought we should talk some more, since you must have questions. They’ll be around soon enough.” Hardly comforting words in Audrey’s mind, but it reminds her that her children must know this woman—the ‘nana’, she realizes, that James had referred to in her ârsgång—otherwise she hopes they wouldn’t have left.

Still Audrey sits, because Conli’s right, she _does_ have questions. Although now that she has the chance to ask them she finds them fleeing from her mind. Typical.

To buy herself time she takes a sip of her coffee, wincing when she scalds her tongue.

Conli makes a sound that a mixture of amusement and concern, and Audrey watches as one of her white hands reaches out to brush Audrey’s cheek. The scalded feeling vanishes. “You healed me,” Audrey’s not sure if that’s a question or an accusation herself.

“Indeed I did, where did you think James inherited that power from? Although it would not have been as potent as it is had someone other than Nathanael been his father.” Which is...weird to hear to say the least, not only because she’s calling Nathan something different.

“So you knew all along who their fathers were? Who they were?” Audrey sips her coffee slower this time.

“Of course,” Conli responds easily, taking  a sip from her own to-go cup—one that Audrey is certain wasn’t there a second ago. “They are my grandchildren. I would be a poor grandmother if I _didn’t_ know those things about them.”

Something like anger raises it’s head in Audrey, and she sees the lights in Black House flicker—well that answers that question. “You knew, but you didn’t do anything?” If she really is Conquest of the four horsemen than she should be pretty freaking powerful and yet she left her grandchildren in what amounted to a prison?

“I _couldn’t_ ,” Conli says between gritted teeth. Audrey has a feeling that she wants to shout, but doesn’t to not draw attention them—which is a losing battle in Audrey’s mind considering Haven. “I did what I could for them, just like I did what I could for you. But there are things in this world even _I_ cannot change, not without dire consequences.”

The words draw Audrey up short. “You helped me?” It comes out more disbelieving than Audrey intended. But she has a hard time believing that her mother’s ‘helped’ considering how things have gone.

Copper eyes narrow. “Yes, I helped. I couldn’t enter Haven, just like William, but I could _see_ into it when he could not, that first time you returned after your time in the Barn was a, well _disaster_ is putting it lightly.” Conli shrugs as if it’s no big deal, just the idea of which makes Audrey wary. “The mortals really didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth and you nearly killed some of them. They failed to understand that changing you _completely_ would only end poorly for them. So I tweaked the spell so the changes to your...core were more surface ones. That life you might have more of a temper, this one a heart that was easily broken, and so on.

“You may not be Mara, but you’re more like her than you realize.” Conli takes another sip.

It’s almost too much for Audrey to take in, but on the other hand she has to know. “What did she do, the first like me?”

“Must you really know?” Conli makes an exasperated sound. “Genevieve was nearly four hundred years ago, no one cares anymore, why should you?”

Audrey crosses her arms and narrows her own eyes.

Conli’s lips quirk in a smile. “Like I said, the Barn spell as the mortals made it changed you too much, leaned you towards one side of your balance than the other. You were paranoid, and thought it was your right to take care of the people you thought had wronged you. And being easily offended as you were…”

“I get it,” Audrey finally snaps. Killed people, she’d killed people, probably more than Conli was insinuating too. It made her sort of sick to her stomach. “So you altered the spell? But you couldn’t remove it completely?”

“You are blood of my blood so I could change it to suit you better, but you are also blood of my blood and what deals you create are not mine to break.” Conli’s eyes grew hard. “So no, I did not break the spell, even if it meant your children were trapped in it.”

Audrey slumps against the back of her chair, feeling wrung out. “So you helped,” hell she _sounds_ tired. Will meeting with her mother always be this exhausting?

“And I will continue to help,” Conli replies. “Now that you’ve broken your deal I may interfere more directly.” Her hands begin to play with her cup, a move more practiced than anything; Audrey can tell. “But there are, not limits, but...hmmm, requirements?” Conli’s expression grew thoughtful.

“Right,” Audrey heaves a sigh. “Because things were getting too easy.”

Conli laughs. “Oh dear, I do not mean like that.” Her expression shifts to a disarming grin. “I only mean to say that when I do help you it will not be to...help you, every action I perform must serve one purpose, fulfill a singular goal.”

Not _wanting_ to, but needing to anyways Audrey asks, “what goal?” She clutches her coffee, something like dread curdling her stomach.

“My survival, my eventual...win. I am Conquest, and I shall not be brought down, not by anyone or anything. So my help will not be because you are my daughter and I love you, which I do, but to further my own goal. Because I have no other choice but to be how I was created.” Audrey didn’t need proof that Conli wasn’t remotely human, but well, she has it now. “And now dear, no matter how much I love you, if there comes a time when I must choose between you and myself.” Conli stands, her to-go cup vanishing as she slips her sunglasses back on. “I will always choose myself.”

It frightens Audrey, that admission, but perhaps what frightens her, even moreso, is that Conli—her _mother_ —the woman who’d just blithely told her she’d sell Audrey out if it meant her survival, stops in front of her to lean down and kiss her cheek. “Until later dearest.” She rights herself and walks away.

Audrey takes deep breaths, doing her best not to bolt to the bathroom to probably throw up. A detached part of her is _grateful_ for Conli’s admission, because she knows now and can plan accordingly. On the other hand it’s terrifying as fuck.

She has memories, false ones true, but they’re fucking _hers_ , of bad foster parents; ones that more than a few people would call monsters, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

But Conli, she blows them all out of the water.

“Mom?” James’ voice pulls her back to the world at large.

“Are you okay?” Jennifer rocks back on her heels. “You look kind of…” She mimes going bug-eyed.

It draws a weak laugh out of Audrey. “I’m...well not okay,” she takes a sip of her cold coffee and finds herself nudging the ones she bought for them closer. “Conli and I had a...very illuminating talk.”

She apparently doesn’t need to explain it further than that, both of them nod and sit down at the table, somehow grabbing _their_ coffees. “Right, kind of scary isn’t she?” Putting it lightly Audrey thinks.

“Yet you call her nana,” it’s not quite an accusation, but she wouldn’t have thought someone like James and Jennifer would be...so comfortable around her, at least enough to refer to her fondly like that.

James shrugs. “I was engaged to a skinwalker, so I can’t really throw stones.” Audrey has noticed the engagement ring he wears, but hasn’t worked up the courage to ask him about it; still she makes a note to look up skinwalkers.

“The way I see it she’s like a...predator on Wild Kingdom, powerful and terrifying sure, but as long as I don’t get in the way of her goal I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine,” Jennifer gives a far too casual shrug and takes a sip of her coffee, grimacing at it being cold.

“You know a lot of that was actually staged?” Audrey’s not sure if James is trying to purposefully steer the conversation away from Conli or if he really wants Jennifer to know that. But Audrey finds herself grateful, because she _does_ want to know them better, and not just focus on discussing Conli.

“Shit, really?” Jennifer sounds vaguely horrified. “Now I wish I hadn’t watched it religiously.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONLY TEN MORE CHAPTERS LEFT!!!
> 
> (also any mistakes on the Old Norse are mine alone, I kind of just winged how to mash words up)


	32. Chapter 32

Audrey follows Nathan in ducking under the police cordon, wincing at the smells of fire and burning rock that reach her nose. “What’ve we got?”

“Doreen Hanscom,” Rebecca tells them matter of factly. “A recaller right?” She glances at Nathan who nods. “Says she was felt up by a handsome blond man last night and this morning she nearly burns her house down with a fond memory of Hawai’i.” Well that would certainly explain the smell.

“Bound to happen sooner or later,” she tells Nathan as they come to a stop in front of a cooled Lava flow. The fire department is busy hosing down the rest of it before it spreads further. “Although this isn’t what I was expecting William to do.” It’s _her_ he wants, what good is going after some random civilian?

Nathan sighs. “Yeah,” he assesses the damage. “Could’ve been worse, no casualties, only a few injured. Although I feel bad for Doreen, she used to only have to deal with sand in her shoes, now this?” Audrey makes a note to talk to her, she’s no Claire, but helping these people is what she does.

“William is a master tactician,” Conli’s voice comes from behind them and Audrey turns to see her...mother sailing past Stan and the cordon—the former not even trying to stop her—to join them. “He’s had centuries under his father to master the ways of battle, a novel approach is our best bet to counter him.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” this woman might be her mother, but Audrey’s a _cop_. Not even her terror from yesterday’s going to change that. “This is a crime scene.”

Conli looks at her for a moment and Audrey wonders if she’s supposed to be scared, a look is hardly going to scare her _more_. “If you’re afraid I’ll leave behind some sort of evidence that will muddy the waters you don’t have to. I don’t shed hairs, and I have no fingerprints. And were I to spill some blood it would have no DNA as humans see it, just like you.”

Audrey is wildly curious, but she has to put it aside. “You could get hurt, or destroy something important without realizing it.” Neither is all that possible Audrey’s sure, but those are the rules.

“Alright,” Audrey feels a flicker of surprise Conli gives in so easily. “But we should speak soon, now that William has started his campaign it’s best to think of a counter strategy.” With that she walks off, and Audrey finds herself wondering how they’re going to get _a hold_ of Conli for that talk.

Turning back her attention to the scene she realizes Nathan’s gone and vanished.

There's a harried moment of panic, before she sees him at the other side of the cordon, talking to Dwight. She heads over, and wraps her fingers around his wrist to prove to herself he’s real. He turns his head slightly and gives her a faint smile, “sorry.”

Giving him a faint smile back she nods and turns her attention to Dwight. “How’re things?”

“Well I’m starting to wonder if you’re thinking of new ways to torture me. How the hell I’m I supposed to get rid of lava?” It’s an interesting sort of good-natured anger, one that has Audrey slightly baffled, but seems to amuse Nathan.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Nathan grins. Right, Dwight’s job, it still amused her that he worked in civil services...technically. “At least it’s only a house, and not downtown.” Christ, she could imagine what sort of chaos this would have caused if Doreen had been downtown.

Dwight huffs. “Small favors if you ask me. But sure, I’ll take it. You all about done here?” She sees a few people, some she recognizes from the time they’d had to corral him, working around his truck, getting out jackhammers and the like.

She finds herself arching an eyebrow at him. “Something we should know about?” She gestures to the Guard. She wouldn’t think, what with him having _left_ the Guard that they would willingly listen to him, his ‘employees’ or not.

A look of consternation crosses Dwight’s face, and she’s pretty sure that’s a flush creeping up his neck. “Well, uh, it seems with the Barn being destroyed and all a lot of folks thought it was time for the Guard to come under new management…”

“And they chose you?” Nathan manages to make it not sound incredulous.

“Yeah,” Dwight rubs the back of his neck. “It’s...weird. Still getting used to it.” His eyes narrow and he turns his head slightly. “Charlie it goes the other way,” his tone becomes somewhat exasperated. “But we’ll help in any way we can,” Dwight continues turning his attention back to them. “We want to keep the town safe just as much as you do, so we’re with you against,” he makes a gesture to signify the whole of it. “All of this.”

In a way it’s a relief, to know that she doesn’t have to worry about enemies from both sides—although she’s not about to think _all_ of the Guard are with Dwight—that they can focus entirely on William.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Stan waving. “You bring him up to date?” She asks Nathan. “I’ll see what Stan wants.” Hopefully this time she won’t freak out if she’s away from Nathan for too long—she wonders if part of the reason is because of his attack yesterday, making her feel more protective of him.

“Yeah,” as if sensing her reservation he ducks down and kisses the top of her head. “I’ll be here.” He gives her a cheeky sort of smile. “I can look after Dwight if it comes down to it.”

Which earns him a sputtering protest from Dwight and something approaching a real smile from her. Thus buoyed she leaves them, intent on her work.

-

Duke’s only half tending the bar, which is probably a relief to Nora, his ears straining to listen to both the police band on the radio he’s got in his office, and what little he can actually catch from the scene itself. So far it’s only seemed like clean up so he’s forced himself to stay here instead of running to Audrey and Nathan’s side.

Which is probably how she sneaks up on him, sitting right across the bar without him even smelling her and narrowing her eyes. “You’ve been avoiding me,” it comes out like the accusation it is. His heart doesn’t exactly leap out of his chest, but it does give a little start at Jennifer’s ‘sudden’ appearance across from him. And Duke has to wonder if this is some weird fate or punishment, for yes, avoiding his daughter.

He gives a little sigh and sets down the glass he hasn’t really been polishing. “You want something to drink?” Not bothering with facing her accusation just yet; although it’s pretty true.

Somehow her eyes narrow even more, which is an impressive trait. “Strawberry daiquiri?”

Erring on the side of caution he decides not to point out that it’s early November and a cold drink like that’s just...well it’s just something. Instead he starts shoving crushed ice into a shaker. “Take a seat over there,” he gestures towards a corner booth. “I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

Again her eyes somehow narrow further, as if trying to see if he’s lying to her, which he’s not. Then she gets up and walks to the booth. He finishes up her daiquiri in record time and on an impulse grabs the half full bottle of Spiritus—the bottle with Audrey’s shot in it sits next to it, making him remember that he forgot to give it to her last time—and at this rate he’s going to have to call up Baqi for more soon.

He sets her drink down in front of her and takes the bench across from her, pouring himself a shot of Spiritus and downing it.  “Look I’m…” He drifts off and gives a frustrated sigh, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m sorry that I’ve been an ass and avoided you. I just...I only found out you existed a few months ago and as far as I know you’re the first Crocker girl and...I suck at this.”

“Well I’m not going to argue with you there,” she gives a soft laugh and sips her drink. Yet her eyes also sharpen with interest. “First Crocker daughter?” He remembers her mentioning she’d been a reporter during that awkward breakfast the other day and finds himself smiling a little.

“Yeah,” he shrugs. “I tried looking into it.” Honestly he’s spent more time in the family study speed reading journals than he’d ever thought he would. “But I don’t think anyone in the family really _cared_ , that’s just the way things were and that was okay.” Which is just ridiculous really.

Jennifer’s expression turns thoughtful as she drinks. “Huh, would you mind if I took a look at them?”

“Sure, there’s a lot though,” Roy hadn’t lived very long—only a hundred and twenty five years—considering, and still Duke’s only gotten to the birth of his father in 1659 after reading for three months, and he hasn’t even touched his father’s yet. “But that reminds me, I’ve got an offer for you, James too but I’ll ask him about it later.”

She finishes off her drink and makes a questioning sound.

“I know you’re still staying with Claire and if you want to keep doing that that’s fine. But you’re also welcome to stay at the Crocker House,” he fiddles with his glass. “I don’t really use it and so I wouldn’t be bothered if you wanted to live there. Ah, there isn’t any electricity, but I did have running water installed in 1930.” And then replaced the pipes in ‘90, but she didn’t really need to know that.

“Uh, wow. Thanks, ah. Can I think about it?”

Duke nods, “yeah. It’s been empty for centuries, what’s a few more days?” His smile is probably self-deprecating. And now that he thinks about it, is winter really the best time to be inviting her to move in? He doesn’t really recall being _warm_ in most of the spaces in the house—the kitchen was the only real exception—and Maine winters were nothing to laugh at. He rubs the bridge of his nose and pours himself another shot.

“What is that?” Well he’ll take Jennifer’s curiosity over a lot of things right now.

“Spiritus,” he pushes the glass towards her in silent offering. “It’s a beverage they brew in the Silver City. Angels drink it.” Nathan would probably call that a gross oversimplification, but really did anyone need to know more than that?

Tentatively she takes the glass and picks it up, bringing it up to her nose and giving it a sniff. “Wow,” she pulls back slightly in surprise. “Not what I expected.”

HIs own curiosity piqued he gives her a little nudge. “Try it,” he’s always amazed that Spiritus is different for everyone, he’s never thought to taste it in the in-between where he picks it up to see if it’s different there, or if the varied tastes is a natural trait of the drink.

She does, taking what appears to be the tiniest sip ever. It does produce a pretty big result on the other hand. Once again she recoils slightly, her hand putting the glass down quickly. “Shit, _angels_ drink that? They must be a helluva lot more fun than I thought they were. Wow.”

Duke bites back a laugh. “So far it tastes different for everyone, which I’m pretty sure includes angels.” He won’t ask her what it tastes like to her, a part of him glad enough that she’s taken the initiative when he hasn’t in their relationship.

“Cool.” She gives a brief smile. “You know, I actually had lunch here once, before my whole sleeping beauty thing.”

Now he’s the one recoiling, although from far more surprise than what she probably felt. “Really?” He knows the odds of it happening probably weren’t all that long, but still the idea that they could have met, that things might have gone differently, makes his chest ache in a way he doesn’t expected.

“Yeah, It was on my way into town and it looked interesting, so I decided to come in…”  


-

They’re all at Nathan’s cottage for dinner, and it warms a part of James that they’re all together like this, that some of the tensions between them have eased, enough for them to enjoy each other’s company at the very least.

Duke’s in the kitchen, people drifting in and out in attempts to get tastes of what he’s cooking, only to be shooed away with huffs and copious eye rolling—so far James is the only one who hasn’t tried, but he’s content enough to wait for the meal to be served, unlike everyone else it seems.

All in all it’s more than James could have ever expected, so of course it has to be ruined.

Audrey’s—he’s getting better at calling her that instead of ‘mom’, although she seems to mind less when he does slip—phone rings, he’s still amazed at how far cell phones have come since the 80s.

“Workaholic,” Duke almost-shouts from the kitchen, his voice filled with good-natured teasing.

“What makes you think it’s work?” She shoots back as she picks it up. “I do have a social life.” Even Nathan looks a little doubtful at that, which earns him a kick. James finds himself exchanging a glance with Jennifer, _parents_.

“Hello?” Only a second later Audrey goes ramrod stiff, and that tension passes on to everyone like wildfire.

It amps up even more when she manages to pull the phone away from her ear and hit the speaker button.

“...and I gotta say Mara, this is the quaintest little town. I mean, wow, talk about Americana.” It’s a man’s voice, one that niggles at the back of James’ mind. He’s heard that voice before, but he can’t quite place where. He know’s it’s going to bug the hell out of him until he figure out why.

Audrey’s grip on the phone tightens. “What do you want William? How did you get this number?”

James is pretty sure he’s never met this ‘William’ before, but he can still picture the condescending smile that accompanies his next words. “Now honey,” all of them bristle at that, although none of them more than Audrey. “That would be telling. I give up all my secrets and then where’s the mystery gone? And can’t a guy call up and talk to his girl anymore?” Next to him Jennifer makes a ‘gag me’ face, but he can also see her hands clench in real anger.

“I’m not your girl.” The anger in Audrey’s voice is heartening. “I’m not Mara anymore.”

William makes a ‘tsking’ sound. “I know, I know. You think you’re Audrey now, believing that reprogramming of yours. But I know she’s still in there ‘Audrey’, all it’ll take is a little...encouragement to draw her out again.”

Silence fills the cottage, no one liking the sound of that. “I’m-” But before Audrey can continue William interrupts.

“I thought I might start by killing the kids. It was so rude of your bitch mom to bring the boy back, I worked so hard on killing him right the first time. And a daughter too?” His voice is disturbingly cheerful. “Is she a little lunatic like her pa?”

Which is about when Williams words fully register in James.

His legs, no his whole body, starts to shake, and the only reason he doesn’t fall down is because Jennifer and Nathan shove him into a chair. His vision starts to go blurry, this man, _William_ , who’s after his mom, who the Barn was created to help keep out. _He’s_ the one who killed James?

James doesn’t really have many memories of his death, or the events leading up to it. But his nightmares are filled with pain and a laugh he’s not sure he’ll be able to forget. Luckily his nightmares have been few and far between so far.

“James?” Audrey, no _mom_ —her voice is too concerned to be anything but his mother—sounds closer than he expects her to be. But before his fractured mind can really process _that_ fact, she’s taking him up into a hug her small frame embracing him easily. Her hand cards through his hair, and it’s so much like Lucy that he finds himself cracking even further. His arms wrap tightly around Audrey, and his face buries itself in her shoulder as he begins to cry.

A warm, firm hand begins rubbing up and down his back and it’s more comforting than he thought it would be.

Time passes and he begins to realize that she’s talking to him. Murmuring words of comfort and humming slightly off-key snatches of songs.

Slowly he pulls away, finding himself unsurprised to discover it’s Nathan, _dad_ , who’s been rubbing his back. Before he can even think to try and say something a mug gets thrust into his face. “Hot milk and honey,” Jennifer sounds nervous. “It’ll help warm you up.” He turns his head to see her giving an encouraging smile, behind her Duke looks unsure of what to do exactly in all of this.

His whole body aching slightly he gingerly pulls away from Audrey, and takes the mug. “Thanks,” it comes out a croak and he makes a face. The milk is just the right temperature for drinking and he gulps down about half of it before trying to talk again. “Thank you,” this time he directs it at Audrey and Nathan, who are pressed to each other’s sides now, Audrey’s free hand seeking out Duke, who gladly goes to her side.

“You don’t need to thank us,” Nathan reaches out and ruffles his hair, a gesture that seems both paternal and infinitely embarrassing. “Pretty sure that’s part of the job of being a parent.”

Audrey huffs, like Nathan’s response amuses her, which brings a smile to James’ own face. He takes smaller drinks of the milk now, wanting it to last. There’s a strange void of ‘what to say now’ between all of them, and James isn’t sure how to fill it. Clearly they’ve all been thrown for a loop, some of them more than others, and none of them know where to go now.

“So anyone know where I can go to wish my powers to work on people just once? I’ve got a perfect candidate,” James is pretty sure if Jennifer had something between her hands it would be scraps about now.

But her words are heartening, he might be a healer by virtue of his powers, but there are some lives not worth saving. Or extinguishing all together. And it says something about their strange family that no one tries to talk her down from that position; not even Audrey or Nathan.

“I think you’ll have to get in line Jennifer,” there are flecks of silver in Duke’s eyes.

“I think maybe we should eat dinner before running off to try and kill someone,” Nathan’s dry tone doesn’t exactly ruin the mood, but it does bring them all down to Earth, at least a little.

Audrey gives a brisk nod as she steps away from Duke and Nathan. “Dinner, right.”

Luckily no one asks James to do anything as everything’s finished, and he can sit and process. As he finishes his now lukewarm milk he remembers a quote that Arla had once told him, that there were no poisons, only poisonous doses. Now he starts to entertain the idea that that idea might hold true for his healing.


	33. Chapter 33

And only a few days ago Nathan was thinking the worst William could do was make someone recall lava instead of sand.

Now they’ve got dead bodies, and no real clue if William’s the one who’s doing them himself, or if he’s getting someone else to do the deed. Either way supernaturals are dying left and right, and there's a constantly banked anger in Nathan’s gut.

Together he, Audrey, and Duke—now he has to wonder why they ever worked without Duke—make their way to the morgue. Eleanor had called about something they should know and to come on over.

But when Duke pushes open the morgue doors it’s not Eleanor who greets them, but someone else entirely.

She’s a bit shorter than Eleanor, a bit older too, and there’s something familiar about her.

“Gloria,” Duke enthuses as he goes up and hugs her. “Who dared to pull you out from retirement?” Nathan sometimes forgets how easy it is to forget people when you’re thousands of years old.

Gloria rolls her eyes and gives Duke’s back an awkward pat before pulling away. “Eleanor’s a determined old biddy, once the bodies started piling up she wouldn’t stop pestering me,” despite the gripping Nathan can hear affection. “Pretty sure she’s gonna try and lure away Lucassi from the Freddy too, at least if this keeps up.” Not an encouraging thought, especially considering Lucassi’s not really trained to be an ME.

Duke laughs, while Audrey stands by, an air of vague bemusement around her—he gives her a nudge of encouragement.

“Eleanor said she had something to show us?” Audrey takes a step away from him and closer to the slabs.

Gloria eyes them both for a second. “Well I can see why you stopped drinking with me,” she says to Duke as she reaches into her labcoat and pulls out a pair of gloves, snapping them on she walks over to the slabs. “Come on down and meet unlucky contestant number one.”

She pulls the sheet away from the body’s face and Nathan’s sure he’s not the only one surprised.

It’s Ian Haskell.

“Groundskeeper at Haven East found him right next to his dug up grave this morning,” Gloria sounds clinically matter of fact. “There’s the expected signs of decomp, and then there’s this.” She pulls out a pen light and opens one of Ian’s eyes. The three of them lean in closer to get a better look.

“It’s black,” completely and utterly. Nathan’s too perplexed to be confused.

“Gold star for the ancient detective.” Gloria releases Ian and the black eye vanishes. “Course nothing I know of turns eyes black like that, and it ain’t some weird decomp either.” She moves on to the next slab. “Because,” she repeats her motions again, this time on Doreen’s body. “He’s not the only one.” Her eyes are completely black as well.

“Well it can’t be cause of death,” Audrey’s in full work mode, writing furiously on her notepad. “Nathan shot Ian months ago.”

Nathan does his best to shove his grief aside as Duke joins in on Audrey’s idea tossing. “Then something William did to them? They both had the handprints only you could see.”

He takes a deep breath. “Can you show us Ian’s chest?” It’s a lot better than the alternative.

Gloria does, and they look to Audrey expectantly. After a few seconds she frowns. “It’s gone, the handprint on him isn’t there anymore.” Nathan doesn’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s certainly interesting.

“Basically all the other supers coming in are like these two,” Gloria makes a sweeping gesture. “Except one.” She walks to the slab at the far end of the morgue and they quickly follow. “Meet possibly lucky guy number one, Mitch Ruggers. Died this morning of what we’re sure is a self-induced brain aneurysm.”

“Self-induced?” Duke sounds disbelieving, and Nathan doesn’t blame him.

But before Gloria can try and answer the question Audrey speaks up. “He’s got a hand print,” she gestures at the older man’s cheek. “Just like the others used to have.” So whatever’d happened to them hadn’t happened to this body yet. Worrying and promising.

“And no black eyes,” Gloria chimes in. “So you seeing the pattern?”

“The handprint isn’t just a mark, it’s an additive?” Nathan suggests. “And whatever William’s giving them he’s taking back?” Of course there’s no actual _evidence_ of that, just conjecture at the moment, but from Nathan’s point of view it’s a solid idea.

Audrey’s expression turns thoughtful. “He must have a limited supply, otherwise why come back for it?” A good point. Her face scrunches up, “on the day we destroyed the Barn, Conli shot one of the guys who’d been doing this to people before William got here. He...burst into dust.”

“A construct of some sort?” Duke chimes in. “Wouldn’t hurt to ask her about it.” Of course that’s if Conli’s in Haven still, and they’re able to find her.

“Can you run some tests on Mitch here?” Audrey asks Gloria. “See if you find any unknown substances?”

“In my sleep,” Gloria responds. “I’ll let Eleanor know when she gets back from lunch.”

“And stay safe,” Duke urges. “William’s no one to mess around with.”

Gloria waves a hand. “Ain’t my first rodeo, but thanks for the concern. Now go on,” she makes a shooing gesture. “Rather not have to clean up vomit while I do the nasty stuff.”

Nathan leads the way as they file out.

“We’re going to have to call up everyone William or his henchman have touched, warn them about William.” It’s yet another thing they’ve got to worry about now; he’s not sure if he’s making a mountain out of a molehill—it certainly wouldn’t be the first time—but it does seem like problems are piling on fast.

Hopefully they’ll be able to find Lady Conli and she could shed some light on some of the mystery at least.

-

Three days, that’s how long it takes for them to finally find Conli ‘we need to talk _soon_ about a plan’. On the other hand Audrey finds herself hardly surprised. What’s a few days to someone who’s potentially billions of years old?

Doesn’t mean it’s frustrating as fuck.

But she’s here, and they’re all—which includes her lovers, her children, and Dwight and Claire at this point—crammed into her apartment to talk.

And Conli seems unsurprised when Audrey tells her about the supernaturals being altered, or that William is killing them and taking something from them—so far Gloria and Eleanor have only been able to determine that it’s not Earthly in origin.

“It’s called aether,” Conli finally interrupts, and Audrey would be angry if she wasn’t already—and if she didn’t really want to continue talking about stuff basically everyone here knew already. “It’s a concentrated form of a certain sort of tree sap, which allows one to do...all various manner of things depending on your imagination and willingness to shed some blood. It’s what those henchmen of his are made out of, I was collecting it from the one I ‘killed’ the other day.”

Audrey remembers.

“So why doesn’t he just get more from trees?” Dwight asks. “Would seem a lot easier than killing folks at least.” Audrey thinks if William had the choice, and maybe he does, he’d still go with the ‘killing folks’ option.

Conli snorts. “There’s only one tree in existence that produces the sap necessary, and William’s only had access to it once, and then only because he was clever and distracted me with humans that had too much curiosity for their own good.” She sneers. “He’s been trying again more recently, but I’ve..beefed up security as it were. So William has to resort to...recycling his supply.”

Audrey fights off a shudder, Conli’s cool tone disturbing, but not that unexpected.

“Is there any way to counteract it?” Duke asks from his perch on the kitchen counter—with limited seating they’ve had to get creative. “It’d be nice if we could just stop people from being affected by this aether stuff.” Oh that would be a wonderful sort of heaven for certain. And a huge load off all of them.

“Like an antidote?” Conli shakes her head. “This isn’t some disease that you can attempt to inoculate yourself against. It’s a force of nature if you will, although a very passive one. It won’t do anything on it’s own, it has be influenced by intent and will. There are ways to remove it however, some of which don’t even result of the death of the affected person.”

Somehow it doesn’t surprise Audrey that Nathan stifles a snort of laughter, his sense of humor was unfathomable like that.

“Why there are two different ways right here in this room.” A ripple of surprise passes through the room, even moreso when people start to realize she’s looking right at James and Jennifer.

“Us?” Jennifer almost squeaks, James looks just as surprised as the rest of them, but thoughtful.

Conli stands up and walks to them. “But of course you. Although,” Conli’s head tilts slightly. “Your talents would not work on true living beings would it? No, constructs like Williams flunky however you could destroy quite easily.” Her eyes cut to James. “You on the other hand James yes, your powers would work quite well on extracting aether.”

James looks at his hands, as if in contemplation. “But how?”

“It is a foreign substance just like any other.” She takes a step away. “If you wish to try it there is an infected person among us.” She looks at Dwight.

It isn’t as if any of them had forgotten that fact, but unlike all the others affected Dwight hadn’t exactly been affected the same way, he’d confided in them that he had control again over his ‘shifts’ and wasn’t likely to try and terrorize the town again—a relief if there ever was one.

So while it make sense that there was aether still inside him, it clearly isn’t doing anything anymore—then again it was the same thing with Carrie.  “Well,” Dwight shrugs. “If he’s willing to give it a try I am too.” It would probably be a relief for him, not having to worry that William might come after him for the aether still inside of him.

“Okay,” James gives a little nod and stands. As he passes Audrey she gives him a brief squeeze of encouragement.

“Do you need a knife?” For the most part Claire’s been observing and not contributing, so it’s almost a surprise for her to finally speak.

James gives a shake of his head and a wan smile. “I don’t actually need blood to heal, that was an...emergency situation.” He stops in front of Dwight, “this might be easier for you if you sit, but you don’t have to.”

Dwight shrugs. “Think I’ll be fine.”

With a small nod James puts his hands on Dwight’s outstretched ones, closes his eyes and almost instantly his brow furrows in concentration.

Audrey knows she shouldn’t expect more than that, so it’s no surprise that she finds herself distracted by Nathan going up to Conli and speaking to her in low tones. She has no idea if he’s trying to not be overheard or not—with Duke in the room she finds herself doubting it—but if that was what he was going for he should have definitely tried to speak softer.

“It’s the Tree of Life isn’t it?” Nathan continues before Conli can really answer. “How the hell did he get access to it?” The way he says it implies that it should have been harder than it apparently had been.

Conli’s eyes go cold as she turns them on Nathan and Audrey finds herself tensing—as is Duke no doubt—to get between them should anything happen. “Because,” her voice is just as cold as her eyes. “As I said he used humans and their boundless curiosity against me. While it’s to be admired for the most part humans really should learn to leave well enough alone; one would think the threat of insanity enough to deter them.” At least now her mother’s callousness doesn’t shock her like it might once have. It _does_ makes Audrey wonder if she got all her empathy from her father, whomever he might be—another question to ask Conli.

“Is it safe now?” Audrey’s pretty sure in the grand scheme of things the Tree of Life is a big deal, but she also can’t find herself to think it all that important, it’s a _tree_. Yet Nathan’s clearly worried.

“Yes,” Conli’s nod leaves no room for argument. “William knows where my residence now is, but when he tried the same tactic a few decades ago he was unsuccessful. Should he feel the need to get a fresh supply I have no doubt I could repel him or his human pawns again.”

A grunt pulls them all away from their various pockets of attention back towards Dwight and James. Jennifer leaps up and catches James before he can fall, Duke quickly joins her and they lead him to the couch.

“Well?” Audrey can’t tell if that’s curiosity or concern in Conli’s voice.

James doesn’t say anything, but he does turn one of his hands over, opening it to reveal a dark gray ball, about the size of a marble, in his hand.

Conli lifts her own hand and with a flex of her fingers the gray ball flies from James’ hand to hers. “Aether. “ She closes her hand into a fist and when she opens it again there’s no ball, but her whole hand is covered in a layer of fine dust. “This would be the way in which William passes it on to people, of course it will not work on certain beings, although I doubt he knows that.”

“Like who?” Duke ask.

“Yourself Evander,” James, Jennifer, Dwight, and Claire shoot Duke confused looks and Audrey bites what’s she’s sure is an hysterical laugh. “Jennifer, by three virtues. Audrey. And so James as well. Myself. William, and on.” Conli shrugs. “I could give a more extensive list, but those are the only ones who are currently residing in Haven.”

“What about me?” Nathan’s voice worries Audrey and she finds herself taking his hand in hers. “What would aether do to me?”

It earns him a long hard look, one that makes Audrey think that Conli can see something about, or of, Nathan that no one else can. “That is an excellent question Nathanael.” She close her hand once more into a fist and when she opens it the aether’s a ball again. “But I think it best we not find out, hmm?”

And with that she leaves the apartment, apparently finished with the conversation.

-

Only a few hours later Nathan’s helping James set up a sort of station at the hospital, while people that William’s altered—who haven’t died yet—line up to be helped. Audrey’s still at the station, making sure the last few people get contacted and head to the hospital. Nathan’s not sure where Duke is, but if he had to guess he’d say the Gull, probably cooking up too much food. Jennifer’s vanished too, but now that he knows William can’t hurt her, at least not in the same way as everyone else, he finds himself worrying a little less—although he does still find himself caring for her, she’s Maggie’s and Duke’s daughter and that’s enough for him.

“What did that chair ever do to you dad?” The fond note in James’ voice still catches Nathan off guard, as does his use of ‘dad’. But Nathan finds he likes both. James had never been as standoffish as Lucy had been with him, but he still wouldn’t have considered them ‘close’. And how strange a thought to realize that Duke knows his son better than Nathan does.

He shakes it off, it’s the past and while it’s important it doesn’t have any bearing on now. “Sorry,” he finally replies, setting the last chair down. “Was lost in thought.”

The corner of James’ mouth ticks up in a smile. “Wanna talk about it?” There’s just enough hint of Lucy in James’ voice to make Nathan’s thinks he might be smiling back.

“Shouldn’t you be focusing on getting aether?” Nathan’s not sure _what_ they’ll do with it when they get it, but they’re all sure getting it _away_ from William is enough for now. He’s certain none of them are willing to use it, at least not in the way William is. But Lady Conli had implied there were other uses.

“I’d rather do it all in one go than wait for stragglers, so we’ve got a few minutes.” James counters.

“How efficient,” something Nathan doesn’t quite remember James being with Lucy, but perhaps death changed him.

A blush creeps up James’ cheeks as he takes one of the seats. “Talk or not?”

Nathan heaves a sigh and takes the seat next to James. “I’m worried,” sometimes Nathan hates how hard it is for him to talk, newly roused old memories remind him of how well he used to speak before; not often mind you, but when he spoke it was easy and others listened, and well.

“About what nana said?” James seems to roll well with Nathan’s problems however. “You know I’ll help if William gets to you.” While the assurance should be comforting—and in a way it is—the conviction is naïve enough that it makes Nathan feel strangely hollow.

“You might not be able to,” if _Conquest_ is concerned over what might happen to him if he’s infected with aether, well, it doesn’t speak well to what _might_ happen. And considering the general mood Nathan’s been in since Halloween, well, it’s hard not to dwell on the worst possibilities.

James claps a hand on Nathan’s shoulder, Nathan only knows it because it rocks him slightly when it happens. “Come on dad, like Audrey and Duke would let anything like that happen to you.” Now _that_ Nathan does find heartening, sure that the two of them would storm the collective Hosts of angels if it meant keeping him safe. “You’ve just got to learn that Jennifer and I will do the same, we’re all part of this odd family and we’ll look out for each other.”

“Thanks,” he turns his head and tries to manage a smile. Which he apparently succeeds at if James’ expression is anything to go by.

This time James hand moves to land on his bare forearm, Nathan hasn’t really thought about it, but he finds it’s not as much of a surprise as it should be that James’ fingers are warm against his skin, sensation flooding him. “No problem dad.”

-

Duke, arms filled with a cooler full of food, manages to get the door of the Crocker house open. Entering he uses his foot to close the door behind him. It’s easy to tell where Jennifer is, he just had to follow the sounds of furious page turning and the smell and sounds of fire.

The study is cozy warm when he enters it—not surprising considering it had no outside walls—and Jennifer sits at the desk, a notepad next to her and old journals scattered about. “Hey,” he speaks.

She jumps, luckily the chair is sturdy enough that she doesn’t fall over. “Christ, don’t _do_ that.”

He does feel a little bad, and lifts up the cooler in a sort of offering. “Brought you something to eat.” She jumps out of the chair and starts clearing off journals. “How’s it going?” He’s not exactly sure her research is going to _help_ in the fight against William, but she seems intent on figuring out why Crockers never had girls until her.

Unloading food he bites back a smile at hearing her stomach rumble. “Pretty good, just moved on to your dad’s journals.” He’s impressed, enough that he doesn’t bother to swat her hand away as she steals a crab puff. “Did you know you grandfather was murdered?” An absurd question to hear when the speaker had a mouthful of food.

“What?” Which doesn’t mean the gravity of the question escapes him. He didn’t know Roy Crocker at all, nor did he recall his father speaking much about him—on the other hand Duke prefers not to recall any of his childhood.

“Yep,” Jennifer finally takes a plate and starts piling on food. “His journals stop abruptly, and the first entry in your father’s first journal is about how a foreign woman named Genevieve did it, and how he wants to kill her but can’t.”

Duke freezes, Audrey had told them about that conversation with her mother, and what she’d learned. About Genevieve, the first incarnation of Mara. About how she’d killed people senselessly. It’s too much of a coincidence for her not to be the same woman. He collapses into one of the other chairs.

“What?” Jennifer’s shrewd he’ll give her that.

Running a hand over his face and through his hair he takes a deep breath, seeing no reason _not_ to tell her. “Genevieve was the first woman who came out of the Barn. Audrey said the spell they used, changed Mara _too_ much and she became unstable.”

“Huh,” Jennifer’s chewing slowed, then stopped. “Was she the reason the Guard were created do you think?”

It would make a disturbing sort of sense. “But Audrey says that Conli changed the spell so it didn’t happen again.” Not that the citizens of Haven would know that. How tense a waiting game would it have been then, to wonder if this time the woman who came out was going to be sane or not? It probably didn’t help that, from time to time, she’d kill a person. Maggie had killed a few people, fuck even _Constance_ had killed someone in self-defense according to Nathan, and he still vividly remembers Sarah coming to him one night, demanding his help.

What a relief to the people then that Genevieve didn’t have a repeat performance, never knowing that it wasn’t possible anymore. No wonder the Guard would go to any means to lock her up again, even if she wasn’t a killer.

“So interesting, but not really relevant.” Jennifer shrugs, then huffs, “feels like the story of my life some days.” She took a drink of the water he’d brought. “Do you know if there are any older family journals? I mean I get you’re long lived, but I can’t find anything from your great-grandfather or the like.”

Duke shakes his head. “I don’t think Roy brought any of that stuff over, just himself and my dad.”

“Yeah,” Jennifer sighs. “That’s what the journals said ‘a fresh start’, but I’d hoped they were wrong.” Sullenly she eats some of her ruben. “I hate dead ends.”

Without through he reaches over and pats her arm in comfort. They both pause when they realize what he’s doing, and he finds himself managing a shaky smile. “You’ll figure it out someday I’m sure. You’ve certainly got the time.” He might only have a century or two left himself, but if Audrey’s anything to go by Jennifer could outlive him easily.

“Yeah,” she sighs. “Unless-”

“Don’t say it,” he does his best not to snap at her. “This is Haven, pretty sure it takes those as invitations.”

Her lips crooks in a smile. “Alright fine...dad.”

It’s nicer to hear than he thought it would be.


	34. Chapter 34

Jennifer’s arm in arm with Audrey as they walk down main street. With Halloween over Thanksgiving decorations have sprung up, and even some Christmas ones as well. It doesn’t escape Jennifer’s notice that Audrey gives those the stink eye.

“You don’t like Christmas?” Jennifer’s always felt sort of fond over it, enjoying finding gifts for people.

Audrey sort of shakes her head. “No. My...current memories don’t give me a lot of good associations.”

Despite wanting to, Jennifer doesn’t press. Instead she changes the subject completely, always good for distracting her investigative mind. “Can I have some of the aether?” She knows they’ve got what James pulled out the other day locked away somewhere, hopefully, safe. But she wants to know more about it, especially what _she_ might be able to do with it.

“I, don’t see why not.” At first Jennifer thinks Audrey’s voice implies reluctance, but then she sees nana walking down the street towards them and understands. “You’ll have to wait at the station for Nathan to get done with his session with Claire, but he should be done soon. He’ll be able to give you some of the aether.”

“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” She knows Audrey’s not all that...keen on nana, and might want the support.

Audrey gives her a brief smile and shakes her head. “No I can handle myself. You go and just try not to destroy anything.”

“That was one time,” Jennifer huffs, knowing it’s good natured ribbing. Giving Audrey’s arm a squeeze she lets go and heads off. Mind filling with all sorts of ideas she could test out on aether.

-

It’s half a surprise to find Conli just wandering the streets, uncaring of the stares she’s getting—Audrey  almost wants to ask the people if they’re staring because of the hair or the pure white fur coat Conli’s got on—the rest of Audrey’s just glad her mother apparently isn’t actually playing hard to get.

“Audrey,” Conli greets her warmly, copper eyes sparkling as she opens her arms slightly. “How are you this fine morning?”

Part of Audrey cynically points out that this whole ‘meeting’ might just be another stepping stone in Conli’s survival, but Audrey also would like to think that not every tiny little thing has bearings on her mother’s ‘goal’. Otherwise it’s too much of a headache dealing with Conli, trying to judge if she’s being genuine or not; and Audrey doesn’t want to spend the rest of her life like that.

So she lets herself fall in step with Conli as she continues walking. “I’m alright, you know it’s a bit warm for that don’t you?” November so far has been not _unseasonably_ warm, but warmer than Haven is apparently used to. Was Conli somehow like Nathan? Or did she just not care?

“It’s not when you wish to be nice and toasty warm. Fur is excellent like that.” So she just doesn’t care. The wind picks up and Audrey huddles into her own coat, while Conli seems impervious, and already Audrey can see her point. “You have questions for me.” It’s kind of funny that that’s not a question itself.

“Tell me about my father,” not exactly the most important question, not that she _says_ it as a question, Audrey wanted to ask.

Conli gives a soft, musical laugh. “There isn’t much to tell Audrey. He was a human, a painter from the beginning of the 1500s. He...had a way of looking at the world that was...enchanting.” Audrey finds herself staring at Conli, the sheer warmth in her voice catching Audrey off guard. For once it’s clearly not calculated, and it throws Audrey for a loop.

“He died a few months after you were born. If you’re interested I have all of his art in my home.” Audrey doesn’t find that at all surprising.

“I don’t exactly have time to look at art,” they haven’t heard from William, or had any more reports of sightings since James went and drew out all the aether; and it’s making all of them ansty.

Conli shrugs. “Suit yourself. The offer still stands. I would guess you have more questions about William and aether.” Audrey finds herself wondering if what makes her a good cop is something she got from Conli, or her artist father.

“I do,” Audrey doesn’t see any point in denying it, the real question is whether Conli will _answer_ those questions or not. “So what can William do with the aether, besides what we’ve seen?”

“Like I said before, the only limits to the use of aether are your imagination, and your supply,” Conli doesn’t seem happy that she’s repeating herself. Audrey couldn’t care less.

“But he can’t get anymore?” Audrey presses.

“No,” Conli’s eyes flash, in what Audrey can only assume is warning. “He is making an attempt right now but I’ve changed my...security since the last time he tried It will be much harder for him to force his way in as he has tried before. On that front you need not worry.”

Audrey finds that’s not as comforting as Conli makes it sound. “But what if he _could_ get in somehow, and got more aether? What if-”

“Enough!” Audrey’s whole world feels compressed, narrow and focused only on Conli. “Why do you insist on pointless questions? They do no good and serve no purpose. William will not be getting more aether. _That_ is a fixed point in time now, it will not change now, or in a billion billion years. Whatever William’s plan might be it clearly requires more aether, at at least on that front I can stop him.”

Whatever power’s had a hold on Audrey finally releases itself and she finds herself taking a deep breath, then a few steps _away_ from her mother. “Just because you say that doesn’t mean he won’t find a way,” Audrey finally says. Sure her mother is Conquest, which means she probably never loses, but right now Audrey’s not willing to trust much.

Conli doesn’t answer, just stare at her critically.

And while Audrey does have more questions, she just can’t deal with Conli any more right now. So she turns on her heel and leaves, finding herself more than willing to just start venting on the first poor unfortunate person who asks how she’s doing.

-

Half drunk James finds himself stumbling back towards Claire’s house—Duke _had_ offered him a room in the Crocker house, but James prefered his accommodations to be a tad more modern than that. He appreciate the gesture on the other hand; he also knows Jennifer’s still waffling on her answer. He’s glad they’ve seemed to grow closer, and that things finally seem to be smoothing out between the five of them.

Stepping onto Maple he leans against a lamp post for a few seconds, just to catch his breath.

Which later turns out to be the best decision of his life. Because in those few seconds a tall, sandy-haired man steps out from between two houses. William.

James recognizes him, not just from the description Audrey had given everyone. But because he’s _seen_ William before. He’s not sure how he _forgot_ that cocksure smiling face, especially with it leaning over him as he took his dying breaths, but he had. Not that it was liable to happen again, not  with the rage he found bubbling up inside of him.

He has the sense of mind at least to pull out his phone as he began trailing the other man. Audrey probably wouldn’t be too happy with the early wake-up call, but this was worth it.

“Mmmm’llo?” James finds himself biting back a smile at Audrey’s voice, trying to be angry but failing.

“Audrey, I’m trailing William,” he talks quietly, not knowing how keen the other man’s hearing was. “We’re on West Oak right now.” Sure by the time Audrey, and probably Duke and Nathan, get there he and William _won’t_ be there, but he doesn’t doubt Duke’s ability to track them. “Gotta go.” He hangs up, not giving her time to ask questions or protest. He also mutes his phone, just in case.

William seems to have no set destination, meandering all over town. It’s...a little disappointing really. James expected a secret tunnel, or a lair of some sort—perhaps proof he read too many comics as a kid. Although it doesn’t escape his notice that they do eventually begin heading towards the seedier side of the docks.

His hand slips into his pocket, fingers wrapping around the stun gun seemingly everyone insisted he carry. Not that he was all that scared of something happening to him.

William finally steps into a dilapidated boathouse and James pulls back to across the street, tucking himself away in a shadowy corner that gives him a fairly good view. Now to wait, for William to move, or for backup—he knows which one he’d prefer to happen first.

And the world apparently decides to throw him a little luck, because a few minutes later he hears footsteps, and peering around the corner he sees Audrey, Duke, and Nathan making their way towards him. Sticking a hand out he waves them over.

“William hasn’t left the boathouse,” he tells them as they creep further back into the shadows. “I don’t know what he might have in there though.” He still has aether, and while most of them here are immune Nathan isn’t.

“Creep in around through the boat door?” Duke suggests in an undertone.

Nathan frowns. “Guns’ll get wet.”

Audrey rolls her eyes. “We don’t want to _shoot_ him Nathan, we want to apprehend him.” Her tone suggests that the opposite has happened before. A fact that surprises James, Nathan had been so very by the book in the 80s.

“We should probably decide soon,” James points out. None of them have any clue how much time they might have, and the more the waste talking the slimmer their chance will be.

“Do you see any broken windows?” Audrey asks Duke.

“Give me a sec,” Duke prowls away, returning a minute or so later. “We’ve got lots of options in the window department, and it sounds like his henchguy’s in there too, or at least I heard him talking to _someone_ , couldn’t make out about what.”

It’s kind of amazing to see Audrey take charge like this, Lucy hadn’t been all that interested in getting down and dirty like this if she had the option. But Audrey seems to relish it. “Okay,” she gives a decisive nod. “James, you and Duke find a good window, come in from the side. Do you have a gun for him Duke?” The question catches James off guard, he knows how to handle a gun—his foster-father had been a marksman—but James hasn’t really carried one consistently.

“Yeah,”  a few seconds later Duke produces a gun, and seeing no reason not to James takes it, checking the safety and the magazine from ingrained habit.

“Nathan and I’ll come in through the front door. We’re the distraction, you two go in and take him down. I know you don’t have Jennifer’s powers James, but still try to see if you can get rid of the aether man if possible.” He nods.

And like they they’re off. James follow Duke, mindful to stick as close as possible and keep down. They creep across the street, all but clinging to the side of the boathouse as they start to make their way around.

Duke finds them a sizeable window with half the glass already broken away. Duke wraps a cloth around his hand. “If something happens you’ll heal me right?”

James doesn’t respond, fairly certain his expression conveys how absurd a question that is. Of _course_ he’d heal Duke.

Moving up to a hunched standing position Duke starts dealing with the rest of the glass, making sure there’s a big enough opening for the both of them to get through. It takes time, but they’re not as much on a schedule.

As Duke’s laying down the last few pieces, James hears the door being kicked in. He and Duke share a look, and it only takes James a few seconds to heal the small scratches Duke’d managed to acquire. Then they’re in.

The inside is dusty and James has to fight the urge to sneeze, but the dust comes in handy a second later when Duke begins to draw in it, marking out where everyone is. Nathan and Audrey are baiting William, who hasn’t responded yet, which is worrying, but Duke seems certain that William’s attention is on them.

So they start creeping again, past mouldering shelves towards the main area.

Like Duke said William’s, and a mountain of a man, attention is on Nathan and Audrey. “You’re coming with us William,” Audrey’s tone leaves no room for argument.

“Now why would I do that? I quite like it here.” But it seems William’s willing to try, which is ballsy.

He and Duke share a look, and James finds himself nodding at the question he finds in Duke’s eyes. And when Duke moves closer to William, James is grateful he read it right and begins creeping towards Mountain; doing his best to keep himself calm and ready to try and use his powers—he’s not sure the gun he was given will be of any actual _use_.

Nathan tenses. “Because you’re under arrest.” He takes a step closer and Duke and James both freeze when William steps back.

“No need to be hasty officer, I dare say most of this is all a misunderstanding, we can talk it out like logical people right?” James finds bile rising up his throat, God, he hates this man.

Finally he’s as close as he dares get to Mountain, and he finds himself putting the gun in his waistband, instead pulling out the stun gun and arming it. He raises his arm up to fire, which is when everything goes to hell.

The floorboard Duke steps on to get closer to William fucking _creaks_. And Mountain whirls around, arms already swinging. Which means James goes flying when one hits him, and _fuck_ it hurts to get slammed into a wall.

Audrey cries out, not that he can hear her actual words over the report of a gun.

James manages to stand up, just in time to see William hit the floor. Except he’s not the only one who does so.

“Audrey!” Duke and Nathan both cry out as they rush to her side. James quick on their heels when he realizes she’s been injured too.

His fingers touch her skin and knowledge fills him. She’s been shot in the chest, left lung collapsing. It’s not as bad as when Nathan’d been shot, but it’ll be an uphill battle to heal her.

But James can do this, he’s certainly healed worse.

Taking a deep breath he closes his eyes and dives in, seeking the connections in Audrey that have been broken, trying to build them up again, make them whole.

Except...except.

It’s not _working._ Her body should be healing, but it’s like there’s something stopping it from happening. Something preventing his powers from working. James has never felt so helpless in his entire fucking life.

“I can’t…” James opens his eyes and looks at his father and Duke, who’s attempting to staunch Audrey’s wound. “Something’s not right.”

Across the room comes a weak, wet laugh, rising above the sounds of Audrey’s labored breathing. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Nathan pull out his cell phone and dial 911. “Gotcha,” William’s voice is weak, but there’s a smug pride in it. It makes James’ blood boil, but he can’t _do_ anything.

“That won’t be necessary Nathanael,” nana’s voice floats into the room and James finds himself heaving a sigh of relief. She can save Audrey, he know knows she can.

All eyes focus on her as she walks into the room, shooing Nathan away she kneels next to Audrey. She lays her hands on Audrey’s wounds and exhales. “Be well.”

It’s an agonizing minute, but by the end of it they all realize the same thing, Audrey’s wound isn’t healing.

Conli frowns, then closes her eyes, brow furrowing in concentration. Only for her eyes to snap open barely a second later. “Bastard,” she hisses, somehow managing to wheel on William in her current position. “If I could kill you I would.” Vitriol fills her voice, and as she speaks what James is pretty sure is _acid_ starts dripping from her lips, making the floor hiss and smoke as it impacts.

William laughs again.

“Bring him,” Conli snaps at Mountain. And James is surprised when the construct does so without argument—although perhaps it can’t speak. “Lay him here,” she gestures to the open spot next to her.

After William’s put down Conli lays a _finger_ on his wound. “Stop.” And like that the wound, _both_ wounds, cease bleeding. Of course there’s still the matter of the wounds themselves, but to James’ perception the immediate emergency has passed.

“You gotta...admit-”

“If you do not shut up William, I will silence you,” Conli interrupts, clearly done with him. “Come here,” for a second James thinks she’s talking to him, then again he’s not the only one who seems to share that idea, but her finger crooks at Mountain and he kneels in front of her.

James finds himself wincing as Conli’s hand thrusts itself into the construct’s chest, and the thing doesn’t even complain, or cry out.

When her hand re-emerges it’s with a good sized lump of aether, and James blinks when he realizes that the construct’s shoulders are less broad than they used to be. Conli takes the aether and begins rubbing it between her hands, muttering softly in a lyrical language that teases at the edge of James’ mind, as if he could just hear her better and understand what she’s saying.

Yet it doesn’t escape his notice that Duke’s grimacing, instinct has James reaching out, his finger’s touch the back of Duke’s hand and James can’t even let himself feel surprise at the fact that Duke’s eardrums feel like they’re about to _burst_ , working quickly he fixes it, only for it to start all over again when he starts to pull back.

Until the damage gratefully stops happening and James can return to himself.

Conli’s stopped speaking and the aether is now the color of honey, the same consistency too if it’s movements are anything to go by. Faintly James is certain he hears _hoofbeats_.

Hands slathered in aether Conli lays one atop each wound. “You will not have them dearest twin, not yet.” She takes a deep breath and her eyes slide shut. “You will heal daughter mine, bastard nephew. You will heal because I command it. You will heal because Life wills it and I am indomitable. All is within my control, and so long as you breathe you are mine. So _heal_.”

Her hands begin to glow and James watches transfixed, healing two people at once is a skill that is beyond him, as the wounds begin to...fill up. He has no other words to describe it, nothing that best fits at the least. But still it falls short of what he witnesses.

By the end the aether on her hands is gone, and Audrey and William’s wounds are healed completely, the bullet William had been shot with resting on his chest like an eerie flower. Conli taps William’s chest again. “Sleep.”

A strangled sound leaves William, a protest of some sort James is sure, but his eyes soon slide shut and like that he’s asleep.

“What the fuck just happened?” James finds himself biting back a smile at Duke’s outburst.

Conli turns slightly, and easily scoops Audrey up as she stands. “We learned a curious piece of the puzzle, Audrey and William are bonded.” For all her earlier anger, none of it shows now, only the cool detachment of her usual mien.

James finds himself frowning. “What does that mean? What _is_ it?” Sure he’s heard stories of soulmates, but those were only fantasy; he has a feeling this is of a different bent.

Conli starts to walk, forcing all of them to follow. Nathan’s being curiously silent and James shoots him a concerned look, his father’s face is narrowed in thought, clearly trying to work through something.

“The bond is another talent of aether, but it is not one WIlliam should have been able to do himself.” Conli’s voice winds tighter as she speaks. “He must have convinced Mara to do it to them somehow, since it is a gift of my line. But it means that none can hurt William without also hurting Audrey, and knowing William the bond only goes that one way. Otherwise any harm done to Audrey would also be done to him.”

James’ stomach twists, and if he could he would probably march back to William and do something he’d probably regret later.

Duke begins cursing up a storm, but Nathan still remains silent. It’s enough that James is starting to worry. “Nathan?” When that doesn’t get a response he tries again. “Dad?”

That _does_ get a response, but it’s not the one he’s expecting. Nathan’s expression clears, long enough for him to narrow his eyes at Conli. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

What now? Thankfully Duke shares his confused expression, neither of them understanding what Nathan’s talking about.

“Clever angel,” something like real warmth dances around the edges of Conli’s words. “But what advantage does it bring, for you to know that I am Life itself? It gains you nothing but more useless questions.”

Her words stop James dead in his tracks. “What?”

“Oh come now James,” he does love her, but sometimes his nana can be far too condescending. “Does it really change all that is between us? I did not think you so easily swayed but such little things.” Little. She thinks that being Life is _little_.

Hurrying to catch up he takes a deep breath. He knows why she doesn’t think it of any consequence, because she’s billions of years old, to her it _is_ a tiny thing. “I would have liked to know,” he’s grateful it doesn’t come out as petulant as it sounded in his head.

Conli sighs, turning to walk up the driveway to an abandoned house. “And if I had, what then? You would depend on me for everything, and the first time I refused would have soured you to me far worse than this now.” Reaching the front step Conli turns to face the three of them. “Audrey must recuperate, and I must see if I can break this bond. James, you will stay here and let anyone who asks know that Audrey will only be gone for a day or two.”

She looks like she’s about to continue, but before she can Duke speaks up again. “Where are you taking her? She can recover _here_.” Duke seems to be taking the whole ‘Conli is Life thing’ well, surprisingly so. But perhaps he hasn’t quite realized what it means.

“I am taking her to my home Evander, and as I was going to say, you and Nathanael are welcome to come, if only so you will not complain.” Behind her the door opens, except that it doesn’t open to the interior of a house, it opens to a _forest_. “Come, it would be best this entrance is gone before William wakes up.”

With that she steps through the doorway. Before he knows it Duke and Nathan have shared a glance and followed her.

The door closes and James is left alone, wondering what the fuck he’s going to do now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and once again, shit gets real.


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's come to my attention thanks to a few reviewers that I may have, accidentally, been confusing/ misleading you. This was not my intention and I apologize for doing so. So I'd like to clear it up right now.
> 
> In modern culture the Four Horsemen are Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. You'll notice that Conquest is not on that list. But before around 1906, the Horseman were War, Famine, Death and _Conquest_. This is the list I am going with, not the 'modern' one (although a lot of Bibles still have it as Conquest (or at least the utterly vague line of 'and he went out conquering and to conquer.')).
> 
> Conli is _not_ Pestilence (although I don't see the two as being incompatible, if you want an explanation send me an ask on my writing blog). She is Conquest, her title, and she is Life, her function, although there is overlap. (And yes War and Famine are both titles and not those two's functions; but again overlap. (Meanwhile Death is Death as both title and function)).
> 
> They are not the Four Horseman as we traditionally think of them. They are beings that will one day carry out the function of those that we think of, but that's not the main reason they were created.
> 
> I hope that clears some things up, and if not I'm more than happy to hopefully better explain it in comments.
> 
> And with that prelude out of the way onto what you're all really here for!

Audrey awakes to numb pain in her chest, the feeling seeming to come to her from underwater, hazy and muted. She’s on a couch, a blanket covering her, her head’s on someone’s lap, and thin fingers are smoothing back her hair.

The panic she feels is muted too, and dies away when the ‘someone’ speaks. “Once upon a time,” Conli says. “Death fell in love with a young woman.

“Of course, being Death, they could not give her what a human man could, but that did not stop them from loving her. And much to their surprise the woman loved them back. So Death decided to find a way they could be together.” Audrey wonders if Conli knows she’s awake, or if she’s just talking to fill the silence.

“And eventually they did. A shard of the universe before creation, which would allow them to be born as a human and live a human life. They took this shard to the woman and told her what would happen, that they would be born as a human, somewhere in the world. That she would have to search for them far and wide, that she might not even find them before they became Death again. But she was willing to take the risk, and so Death ate the shard.”

Conli picks up lock of Audrey’s hair and begins to braid it, the gesture strangely soothing to Audrey. “Death was lucky and was born a baby boy to parents who were well off enough. As he grew he took an interest in painting and his parents encouraged it, even if the subject matter sometimes left something to be desired. For his subjects mainly consisted of the dead and the decayed. However he became well known for his breathtaking portraits of the recently dead and so made money enough.

“And what of the woman who loved him? She spent decades searching for him, searching for an hint of the being she loved who was now human. And when she did find him she was older yes, but not so old as one might fear. She had lost the blush of youth, but her travels had matured her, and she had grown knowledgeable of the world.

“They were married and although there were whispers that she would not be able to give him children thanks to her advanced age, they were happy.” Conli gave a quiet sigh and let Audrey’s hair fall back on her face.

“Over the next few months he began working on a secret project, a gift to her that he would not reveal until it was finished; he swore up and down that it would be his greatest work. All were eager to see it, not least of all his wife.

“Finally, near the end of Lent he announced that he had finished it, and that on the Monday after Easter he would reveal it to the town.”

Conli’s hand stilled in it’s movements. “But the woman could not wait, and on Easter, when everyone was in church she snuck into his studio to see the painting.

“It was so beautiful that she cried and she found herself filled with guilt, for having seen it before her dear Death was ready to show it, and because she had been keeping a secret from him. One that she now knew she could never tell him.” Something hot and wet hits Audrey’s cheek, shock ripples through her as she realizes her mother is _crying._

“She took the painting and left. Only a month later Death died of a broken heart.

“And deep in the wilds of the world, where Europeans had yet to set foot, and the natives rarely roamed, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

“When she next met Death they were cool to her and it broke her heart, but she kept her secret.” Conli stops, as if that were the end of the story, but Audrey feels certain that it’s not.

Pushing herself upright is a strange experience to her current state, but she manages it and meets her mother’s copper eyes. “I was that baby wasn’t I? You were the woman, and my father…” Well Conli hadn’t _lied_ when she’d said he was a painter during the Renaissance.

Other than faint tear tracks there are no other signs that Conli has been crying, and she watches as her mother gives a wry smile. “Clever girl, yes.” She reaches out and trails fingertips down Audrey’s cheek. “Death was your father, albeit as a human.” Her gaze turns away. “They’re the only being I’ve ever truly loved, and one day they will try to kill me, when the universe is more death than life and not even a spark of light exists.”

It’s not as if Audrey feels _bad_ for her mother, she brought that all on herself and Audrey’s sure she’ll be long dead before Death and Conli are all that remains. Yet there’s a strange sort of sadness to the idea that her father doesn’t even know that she exists, that her mother couldn’t bear to tell him. “Why?”

“Why didn’t I tell him?” Conli falls back against the arm of the couch. “Because he was _Death_ , who can produce no offspring, have no children. You are an impossibility, a woman who shouldn’t exist yet does. In a way you prove that God is not all knowing, nor all seeing; that there are things that happen in this universe without Their decreeing it. That is why.”

Audrey fell silent, her mind working. “Does anyone else know this story?” theories and ideas leap into the forefront of her thoughts, but she needs the rest of the facts first.

Conli shakes her head. “No, there may have been a few that guessed that Death was the painter, but none knew I was the woman, and _no one_ knew I was pregnant.”

She believes her mother and yet… “William knows,” she tells Conli with certainty. “That’s why he chose me. There are things I can do that no one, no _thing_ , can aren’t there?”

“Yes,” Conli says, meeting her gaze again.

“That’s why he wants me,” it’s a strange relief to know that, one she hates. “Do _you_ know what I can do?” Audrey doesn’t have any of the memories of her past selves, so she has to rely on others.

Conli shakes her head. “As a child you were never all that interested in exploring your powers. You wanted to play in the woods and read,” her voice turns fond. “By the time I thought you were ready to begin learning William had already romanced you away, and I felt any protests from me would only seem like those of a mother unwilling to let her child go. And you were of the age when those protests would have just driven you more towards him.”

Audrey would like to think that wasn’t the case, but part of her thinks it would have been. She doesn't know anything about Mara, what her personality was like, but Audrey knows her own teenaged years. And while she was more responsible than most, she doesn’t doubt that any of her foster parents protesting something would have only driven her to do it more.

So she changes the subject. “What happened to me?” She remembers things starting to go south, then pain. After that her memory’s blank.

“William planned better than I expected him to. You and he are bonded by aether, and anything that happens to him also happens to you. I expect that your tie to the Barn prevented this from happening while you were in Haven, so not even I noticed.” A shrug, “but now it is inescapable, and not even I can break it.” This seems to annoy her more than anything and Audrey bites back a sigh.

But Conli must sense her impatience, because she soon continues. “Nathanael shot at William, and so injured you as well. James wasn’t able to heal you, because he misread what to do and so I was forced to step in,” because Audrey’s sure her death right then would have thrown a wrench in Conli’s plans—it’s a bitter draught to drink, but Audrey knows it won’t be the last time.

“And now you are in my home, the place you were raised.” At those words Audrey finds herself looking around.

They’re in a bedroom, in the middle of the room was the bed itself, one that looked unslept in for a long time. A mural of the ocean wraps around the walls, broken up by bookcases filled with books and knick knacks, as well as other pieces of furniture.

It’s a pleasant space, but one Audrey finds she can’t really enjoy. “Where’s Duke and Nathan? Why aren’t we in Haven?” She finds that’s her biggest worry, that her mother just pulled her right out of Haven, leaving William to cause who knows how much chaos. She shudders, she hopes everyone’s alright.

Her mother’s mouth crooks into a smile. “They’re here, last I saw them they were in the library. And do not worry so,” yes because that helps Audrey, so much. “William has no designs on Haven itself, only you; and it has only been a few hours since you were last there, I dare say he’s still under the sway of my sleep command.”

Not the relief her mother hopes it to be, at least to Audrey. Deciding to risk it she stands, her legs managing to hold her weight well enough, and her chest aching only slightly; she and Nathan are going to have a _talk_ about his instinct to shoot to kill—although she wonders if he’ll ever do it again, now that it’s affected her in such a way.

“Take me to them, and then take us home.” At least it manages to sound like a command.

Conli sighs. “I will take them to you, but I insist you eat and rest a while more before you go. Your wound was much more severe than you think.” That hardly matters to Audrey, not when she was lucky enough to be unconscious for all but the start of it.

But her mother still stands up, gracefully walking towards the doorway—which lacks an actual door Audrey is surprised to note. “This way, and do your best to stay close, you are my daughter but sometimes my home does not realize what it is doing.” Well _that_ is comforting.

Still Audrey does, she wants to get back to Haven as soon as possible, with no extra detours. She already feels strangely unmoored, a fact that doesn’t surprise her considering Mara tied herself to Haven, but she’d rather not find out of that sensation will get worse.

-

Duke’s curled up on one of the nice, sizable couches, in his shifted form. He knows it’s sort of petty, to shift into a wolf just so he won’t get pulled into a conversation with Nathan—not that he’s much for talking at the moment—but this just felt easier than even mustering up the energy to _tell_ Nathan that he wasn’t interesting in talking.

Nathan himself is wandering the library, occasionally pulling out a book to look at it, before shaking his head and putting it back; Duke wonders why he keeps doing it if that’s all he’s ever going to _do_ with the books. From time to time Nathan will pass the couch Duke occupies and scratches him behind the ears, which is fantastic.

Not that any of that is much of a distraction from his whirling thoughts.

Unlike Nathan and James, Duke doesn’t see what the big deal is with Conli being Life, especially considering what Audrey already told them about her mother’s ‘help’; it just makes him _less_ likely to ask for her help, well, unless someone’s dying and there’s the possibility of her saving them.

But her house freaks him out a little. The scent of it keeps changing and is never the same twice, it’s disorienting and part of the reason he shifted—easier to hide your nose when you could curl up, even with yoga it’s sort of awkward as a human. And the fact that she warned them not to leave the room unless she was with them, well, Duke knows well enough that it’s just better to stay away from places like that from the get go.

Yet here he is. Because of Audrey.

Which is what has him really worried. Oh, not Audrey herself; he’s certain she’ll be alright. No, what’s worrying him is this bond between Audrey and William.

Because Duke most definitely wants William dead—and he knows he’s not the only one—but that’s hard to accomplish when it means killing the woman you love too.

Especially worrying is the fact Conli said she couldn’t break it. If Life itself couldn’t break this bond, well, Duke finds himself apprehensive as to what might.

A familiar scent tickles his nose and his head shoots up, tail thumping the couch in happiness. Audrey, headed their way. His ears pick up her voice and he feels even better. She’s awake and aware.

Nathan noticing walks over to him and scratches his head again. “If it’s Audrey are you sure you want to stay like this, think she’d prefer to see you as a person?”

Duke snorts, then ducks his head in to nip Nathan’s hand lightly, because what sort of absurd question is that?

-

Nathan rolls his eyes as he rubs the patch of skin Duke bit, he didn’t break skin, and really Nathan’s dealt with worse pain; but Duke didn’t have to be such an ass about it.

Duke politely dives behind a couch to shift, which doesn’t stop the sounds from reaching Nathan’s ears and making him grimace. It always sounds so uncomfortable and...wet. He knows he could take about two steps to his left and actually _see_ if it looked as bad as it sounded—he hadn’t gotten all that good a look when Dwight had gone berserk—but really that would be rude, and anyways Duke clearly didn’t want anyone else to see it and Nathan needs to respect that.

Which doesn’t stop him from biting back a smile when Duke’s head shoots up from behind the couch a few moments later, much like it had when he’d sensed Audrey. “Clothes, where’d you put my clothes Nate?”

Part of him wants to keep Duke’s clothes from him, see if Duke would get up and try to chase or tackle him or something; but this isn’t exactly the right time or place.

So he goes over to the chair he’d put Duke’s folded clothes and tosses them to him. Letting himself enjoy the view of Duke dressing. He’s stepping out from behind the couch and pulling on one of his ridiculous sweaters when Audrey and Lady Conli enter the room.

Nathan feels a _tiny_ bit pleased that that means he’s the first to embrace Audrey, but Duke soon sweeps them both up in a spine-cracking hug.

He can’t even be mad about that, what with the way Audrey laughs and embraces them back. “I love you,” she tells them both, her voice quiet.

Duke squeezes them both harder for a second and Nathan’s pretty sure that pop was something in his back. “I love you too,” he replies, buying his face in her hair. Basking in her, relishing the fact that she’s whole and well.

“Me too,” Duke chimes in, his cheek brushing against Audrey’s.

“There’s food waiting for us in the dining hall,” Lady Conli interrupts. “If you would all follow me you can be on your way back to Haven sooner.”

They break apart, although Audrey doesn’t pull away when he links his hand with her’s, the warm air around them catching him off guard, even though he’d felt it only seconds before. Duke mimics him on her other side and with that they’re off.

Warily Nathan sticks close to Lady Conli, he knows her home is a place even her fellow horsemen fear to go. And as the hallway they’re walking down turns into a _jungle_ he can see why that might be.


	36. Chapter 36

In Audrey’s mind it had taken them far too long to _get_ to the dining hall, first there’d been the jungle, then the hallway where they’d walked in a spiral going downwards, _then_ a whole freaking cave system where they’d had to hold hands so they didn’t get separated, Conli refusing to make a light of some sort.

But they’d finally reached the truly cavernous dining hall. Where there had indeed been food waiting for them, more food that Audrey thought possible. Not that the three of them didn’t make a valiant effort to put a dent into it.

After that it’s through a _different_ doorway, and through yet more more bizarre architecture before Conli finally stopped in front of the doorway to the bedroom Audrey’d awoken in.

“I’ll be back in two hours or so. I suggest you sleep,” her mother turns and leaves, a doorway covered in vines appearing at the end of the hall for her to walk through before vanishing.

“I’m not sure I can sleep,” Nathan grouses, and while she agrees she still finds herself slipping off her shoes and jacket.

“Then we can cuddle, the bed’s certainly big enough.” Right now Audrey’s under the assumption that this was Mara’s room before she ran away, although what Mara needed with a bed _this_ big is beyond Audrey. Not that she’s going to question it all that much at the moment.

Duke flops onto the bed, kicking his shoes off. “An excellent idea,” He rolls over onto his stomach.

Laughing lightly she joins him, her front to his back, curling her arms around him and smiling when he takes her hands to tangle with his own.

Unsurprisingly Nathan sidles up behind her, his own arms wrapping around the _both_ of them. His breath tickling the back of her neck in a pleasant way. It’s restful as always and Audrey finds herself drifting slightly, yet she’s still surprised when Duke and Nathan begin to relax more fully, the both of them, despite protests, falling into sleep.

Audrey thinks she might be headed that way herself, what with how foggy her head feels. Except her body wiggles its way out between the two of them.

She tries to stop herself, but it doesn’t work, like her mind and body are disconnected.

Taking a deep breath, or at least a mental one, since she can’t even seem to control her breathing, she does her best to fight through the panic that’s threatening to fill her. It’s useless to panic when she doesn’t know what’s _causing_ this. This could be a side effect of being a Lar, stay away from her ‘territory’ for too long and her body takes over to try and find a way back.

Which is not something she’s happy with—it means she can’t ever have a real vacation—but she can deal with it if that’s the case.

But that’s only if that’s the cause of this problem of hers.

A strange tugging sensation, on that grows distinctly uncomfortable as time passes, begins in her chest. Which seems to be the guiding force in her current state, leading her down hallways, through rooms, making her squeeze to get through tiny doorways that were definitely not made with the human body in mind. She walks through a bright, but sunless, desert, and she’s grateful she’s still not wearing shoes when it turns into a knee high ocean.

With no way to keep time Audrey has no idea how long she travels, but the more she does the more the tugging grows insistent, stronger. She hopes that when she gets wherever she’s going it _stops_.

She finds herself in another cavernous room, it’s another forest, but unlike the one Conli lead them through she can see the walls, making it feel more like a greenhouse than anything else, the only sound the burble of water. The tugging in her chest grows strong enough that she’s afraid her heart or lungs are going to get yanked out. Yet her body keeps moving inward, intent on _something_.

The sensation stops, leaving her dazed for a second, before she gets a hold of herself as best she can and takes in as much of her surroundings as she’s able.

Her body’s stopped in front of a tree, one that looks old, dark, and withered, yet is still covered in bright green leaves and strange fruit she’s never seen before in her life. It’s a pretty sort of tree, one that Audrey could see herself curling up under, or among the branches, with a good book—in fact she can _see_ a book wedged between two branches.

As if sensing that thought her body moves closer, close enough that Audrey can see the texture of the bark, feel the scrape of it under her fingers.

Distantly she feels her hands curl and grip at the bark. At first she think’s it’s to climb, but her hands soon start pulling _away_ the bark. Quickly revealing a wood whose color she can’t name. The tree soon beings oozing sap, a dark red that reminds her of blood.

Her hands stop in their pulling and move towards the oozing sap, cupping together right below it to catch it.

She’s not trying to get out, she’s collecting the sap that _aether’s_ made out of.

 _William_.

-

Warm skin presses against Nathan’s own, making him aware of the soft sheets, a feather from the tick digging into the small of his back where he’s shirt’s ridden up. He shifts, bumping into a body; Duke’s familiar grumble at being so assaulted makes Nathan’s sleepy mind want to do it more.

At least until his mind remembers there should be Audrey between them.

Despite the brief flare of panic that thought brings with it his eyes open slowly, perhaps she’d just made herself comfortable somewhere else in the room and didn’t want to disturb them. His eyes first spot Duke, a familiar lump on the bed. Lifting himself up slightly Nathan’s eyes scan the part of the room he can see. Spotting no Audrey on that side he rolls over to look at the rest of the room.

Only to see Audrey’s not there either.

Knowing that Audrey wouldn’t risk getting lost in a place like this, at least not without reason, he reaches over and shakes Duke awake. “Audrey’s gone,” he doesn’t see any need to beat around the bush, especially when time might be a factor; who knows how long Audrey’s been gone after all.

His words have the added effect of waking Duke faster than his actions alone would have.

Duke’s own eyes dart around, as if to confirm Nathan’s statement, then he inhales deeply; Nathan knows his senses have compensated for the loss of touch, but they’ll never be as good as Duke’s. “Her scent’s pretty old, it’s been a while since she left.” Not exactly what Nathan wants to hear.

Together they climb out of the bed and approach the door, peering out into hallway beyond. Nathan finds himself torn between worry and apprehension. Worry, because Audrey’s missing for no discernible reason, and apprehension because this is Lady Conli’s _home_ , even if he’s lost all his angelic powers he can still feel the frightening pulse of _awareness_ through the whole place. And he knows that while it might _look_ like an ordinary hallway, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any danger lying in wait.

So much as he would have prefered for him and Duke to go it on their own and hunt Audrey down, they can’t, not without unreasonable risk to themselves.

“Conli!” He bellows down the hall, the sound seeming to grow and echo as it moves.

“Fuck, warn a guy next time.” He looks over to see Duke rubbing his ears. “Didn’t realize you could be so loud,” it sounds like there’s a dirty joke in there somewhere, but Nathan doesn’t exactly care about that sort of thing at the moment.

Luckily Lady Conli soon appears, her expression placid, yet suggesting she isn’t pleased at being summoned in her own home. Bully for her. “Yes Nathanael?”

It irks him that she still calls him that, he left God long ago, has no part of him—even moreso now—but he knows she won’t ever stop and he’s just going to have to deal with it, and really it’s such a small thing compared to what they’re facing. “Audrey’s missing.”

Almost imperceptibly her eyes widen, clearly caught off guard, stark proof that she isn’t as omnipresent as she seems. But the expression passes almost too quickly for Nathan to pick up, to be replaced by one of hard determination.

Her shadow behind her flares, he finds himself reaching out to Duke when the other man steps slightly behind him, and grows. Like a flock of starlings it shifts and swirls, breaking up into hundreds, _thousands_ , of smaller parts. Each one flaring white as it breaks apart from the whole.

He blinks and they’re all gone, leaving Conli shadowless. “They will find her and report back.” Nathan knows better than to ask who ‘they’ are.

“So what?” There’s a note of panic in Duke’s voice and Nathan reaches his other hand behind him to comfort him. “We just wait?”

Conli floats past them into the room, taking a seat on the couch. “Yes Evander, we wait.”

-

Morning comes, and with no sign of Audrey, Duke, and Nathan, Jennifer finds James’ worry catching.

The two of them linger in Claire’s dining room/kitchen, picking over their breakfasts in a delusory manner, both of them finding themselves unwilling to voice the worst. That perhaps nana swept the three of them away, leaving Haven to deal with William on their own. On the table between them is the morning’s _Herald_ , the headline story about the collapse of the theater’s second floor.

Jennifer doesn’t exactly want to think it, she _likes_ her nana, doesn’t want to think the worst of her. Yet she knows that it’s something Conli would do given a good enough reason. And she wouldn’t even bother to explain herself either, even to them. It’s disheartening, but it’ a possible reality they’re going to have to face.

“What’s with the long face?” Claire’s voice startles the both of them. Jennifer’d thought she’d already left for work—Kat certainly had, but not before pointedly wondering if she needed to go grocery shopping again.

James frowns into his oatmeal morosely, he wears it just about as well as Nathan does, a thought she finds vaguely amusing. “Mom, dad, and Nathan still aren’t back.” Jennifer answers. “We’re starting to get worried.”

Claire frowns. “And you haven’t been able to reach them?” Cells were a marvel Jennifer isn’t sure she’ll ever get used to.

“No,” James finally speaks. “Just goes straight to voicemail.”

Jennifer finds she doesn’t doubt that they’re _alright_ , but that still leaves a lot of options for what’s actually happening. For the most part she’s always considered herself a pretty optimistic person, except when it came it came to personal matters—it didn’t help that sometimes those worse possibilities were _true_ , like when she’d thought her college boyfriend Charlie was cheating on her, only to find out it’d been much worse—so this whole situation is ripe for some pretty bad ‘what ifs’.

“Come on,” Claire’s business like tone surprises Jennifer. “Let’s head into town, talk to Dwight. See if anyone’s spotted William since last night.” Her sure tone is encouraging, and Jenifer can see why she’s so successful as a psychologist.

She and James share a look, but it’s either go with her or continue moping around the house; and Jennifer at least, has always preferred to be a woman of action. So she gets up, following Claire towards the front door, remembering to grab her winter wear at the last second—she’d thought New York and Boston got cold, but they had nothing on her first Maine winter.

At the last second James chases them down, cheeks already turning pink from the harsh wind. “I’m coming too.”

Together they pile into the car, Claire driving towards Haven. And hopefully answers.

-

Hand cupping sap—which still feels frighteningly warm and _wet_ —Audrey continues to walk, this time with a different destination in...body.

With the realization that this wasn’t a part of her own nature, and most likely caused by William, whatever fear she’d felt has been swept away by anger. She might not know how exactly he’d done this, but she’ll find out, and make sure it never happens again. Even if it means she has to get hurt herself again.

She’s lost track of space as it were, time as well, there aren’t any helpful clocks in the areas she passes through and Conli’s ‘house’ is just plain confusing. Yet her body seems to know where it’s going, which doesn’t bode well.

Passing through a doorway sitting in the middle of a swamp Audrey finds herself in a hallway, a plain old, boring hallway.

But a hallway with an actual _door_ at one end.

A door her body heads toward, although how Audrey’s going to _open_ said door when her hands are full is beyond her.

The question gets answered when the door just...opens when she reaches it. Revealing the other side to be a picturesque pine forest. Except for the lack of sound, her ears don’t pick up birds, or even the rustle of wind through the branches. All around her is perfect stillness, perfect calm.

William stands a few feet away, everything about him practically screaming casual ease, even with the dark bags under his eyes.

Her body begins to move towards him, and she actually starts to try and actively resist. Not that it does much, her body still moving at an easy pace towards him. She stops a step away from him, her hands stretching out.

He pulls out a canteen and opening it holds it below her hands. “Good girl Mara,” Audrey bristles. “I knew I could count on you.”

Somehow that’s enough for her to break free, but not before William’s gotten most of the sap. His face turns disappointed and his shoulders heave in a sigh. “Always so disappointed by how long that doesn't last.”

“Fuck you,” she spits out, she knows if she can get back to Conli’s house she’ll be safe from him. Part of her just wants to wrap her hands around his neck and squeeze forever, but she can’t, not while they’re bonded.

But before she can even take a step there’s a commotion behind her. Culminating in Conli thundering, “William!” The ground shakes at her anger, and now Audrey knows how Havenites feel when she gets angry and the town starts to react. It’s terrifying.

She whirls around to see...a cabin, one that barely looks big enough to contain the ‘essentials’ let alone the vast hallways and landscapes it does. At the doorway stands Conli, Duke, and Nathan. None of them looking all that happy. Conli towers over the both of them, her proportions inhumanly unsettling.

With her body her own again she moves to go to them, only to be stopped by William’s arm around her throat, “Ah, ah. Need you for one more thing at the moment Mara.”

“Stop calling me that, I’m _Audrey_.” Even _Conli_ understands that. And William’s insistence in calling her Mara only stokes her anger hotter. She raises her foot to jam it into his instep, but he easily steps away from the attack.

“Now, now Mara,” he makes a disappointed sound. “I’m a son of _War_ , you think I can’t sense an attack coming.”

She fumes, and she knows if they were in Haven shit would be happening, hell she wouldn’t be surprised if parts of the town started _attacking_ William. But no, Conli suddenly decided to play mom and now look where it got them. “What do you want?” It comes out an impressive snarl.

“Well you for starters Mara, none of this ‘Audrey’ bullshit,” she’s going to claw his fucking tongue out see if she doesn’t. “With you by my side as my rightful consort,” she hears the rattle of the canteen then a soft thud as it hits the ground. Glancing out the corner of her eye she sees him rolling some of the sap in his free hand, she hopes the others noticed too. “Then the real plan can begin.”

“What take over the world?” Duke’s derisive snarky tone has Audrey choking back laughter, not exactly the best time to go quoting cartoons.

She’s not sure how she feels about William laughing on the other hand. “The world’s as big as you can think puppy?” Audrey feels strangely pleased to see Nathan instinctively reaching out to hold Duke back. “No, I’ve got a much bigger plan than that. Although by the end of it I guess I will rule the world since I’ll be in charge of the cosmos.”

Loud, abrasive laughter fills the ensuing silence. All eyes turn to Conli, who’s nearly doubled up with laughter. “What?” She manages to get out between laughs. “You think you can storm the gates of Heaven? Kill God?” She starts laughing again. “Oh William I didn’t realize you were _insane_.”

“Not insane _auntie_ , I just know that I can do better than all you can. What do you say Mara,” William’s breath is hot against her ear as his attention shifts only to her. “Would you like to replace your mother? You’d be a better Life anyways don’t you think? Always so _caring_ and _nurturing_. Not like your cold and heartless bitch of a mother.”

His words don’t make sense to her, Conli is Life? She thought her mother was Conquest. Yet everyone else, William isn’t exactly being quiet even if he’s only talking to her, doesn’t seem surprised. She hates that she’s apparently the last to know. Finally though she manages to speak. “No,” she grits out. “I don’t want that at all.” Haven, _Haven_ she can take care of. But the whole world, the entire _cosmos_? She sure as hell doesn’t want that.

William sighs again, and she feels a sharp pinch on her neck. “Well I guess it’s a good thing you don’t get a choice.” His lips press against the back of her neck and she squirms in disgust. There’s going to be a nice hot bath in her future, no doubt about it. “And I know you’ll thank me one day.”

His other hand flies up and throws something at Conli, who’s finally straightening. It hits her directly in the chest, so quickly no one has the chance to even think about stopping it.

Conli collapses on the ground and that’s when everything goes to hell.

The ground begins to shake again, far more violently than before. Enough that she manages to break away from William, heedlessly dashing headlong to Nathan and Duke. The former catching her before she falls herself.

Somehow the shaking gets _worse_ , and Audrey finds herself seriously worried about their survival.

Around them trees begin to fall, but it takes Audrey’s mind a few seconds to realize they’re not just falling willy-nilly. _Something_ is rising out of the ground. Something so big her mind can’t take it all in.

The ground’s shaking begins to stop, only to start again when the thing _roars_ , her hands cover her hears to try and muffle the sound, but it pierces right through. She would squeeze her eyes shut too—even though she knows it would do nothing to protect her ears—but they’re transfixed on William, whose eyes have widened in surprise.

The thing lunges at William, a maw with too many teeth stretched open to swallow him whole. But William _vanishes_ , and once more the ground trembles when the thing crashes into where William once was.

After that the world feels like it’s righting itself. The last of the aftershocks finally seem to hit, and when the three of them start to stand upright Audrey’s surprised to note that beyond a few uprooted trees not much has changed around them. The cabin’s still standing, and most of the ground is undisturbed.

Weak coughing draws all of their attention to Conli. She’s sitting upright, but with her skin already deathly pale it’s hard to tell how alright she might be. Coppery blood stains the front of her shirt, only to vanish right after. The dart, now that Audrey can see what it is she’s surprised it managed to hurt Conli as much as it has, is still sticking out from her chest; and Conli doesn’t seem to be making any moves to remove it.

The ground rumbles, but it’s easier to bear his time. And Audrey whips her head around to see the thing moving towards them. Although much like the dart, now that Audrey can get a good look at it she sees it’s not a thing, but the biggest fucking...snake? Except it also looks a bit like a lizard, and Audrey shoves it aside because it’s huge, and it’s coming right for them.

“Guys?” She’s pretty sure they should be trying to get out of here. The cabin is clearly stronger than it looks, she just hopes it can withstand giant reptile attacks.

 _Nathan_ of all of them responds, in a disturbingly calm manner. “He,” _He?_ “Won’t harm us, but we need to step away from Conli.”

Well, she can do that. Even with her body trembling from the post-adrenaline rush. It give her a good excuse at least to huddle against Duke and Nathan. Let their warmth sink into her.

“What the fuck is that thing?” Sharp laughter rattles its way out of Audrey at Duke’s question.

No one responds right away, the three of them entranced by watching the giant head lower itself down towards Conli, he blows a breath over her, the remains of which nearly push the three of them back. Then with much more delicacy than she’d give something that huge credit for it nudges Conli, like a pet checking on it’s owner.

Her mother’s hand rises up and rests against the scaly nose for a second before it slides off. This is apparently enough for the huge reptile because he pulls away, for a terrifying second his head swings towards them, his giant eye inspecting them, and his massive inhale nearly jerking them into his nostril. Finally he begins to sink back down into the ground, a much smoother operation than it rising up.

This does however seem to shake Nathan into responding. “He’s had a lot of names over the years. Eld Fen, Jörmungander, Ladon, Campe, Tiamat, Mongolian Death Worm.” Both she and Duke manage tired sniggers at that last one. “I don’t know his ‘real’ name, if he even has one, but he was created to help protect the Tree of Life.”

And apparently Conli, if that was anything to go by. Audrey’s just relieved that he’s _gone_.

She and Duke cling to Nathan slightly when he tries to pull away, but they eventually let him go, quietly trailing after him has he goes to perform his own check on Conli. “Are you alright?”

Conli gives an almost soundless wheezing laugh. “We’ll I’ve certainly been better Nathanael. I will however recover, given time. Audrey,” regretfully Audrey pulls herself away from Duke to go to Conli.

“Yes?”

“You’re going to have to be the one to pull this out,” Conli’s words devolve into a coughing fit. “I can’t touch it.”

Audrey turns her head to look at Nathan and Duke, who both shrug. Since Audrey would prefer Conli _not_ to die—at the very least because Audrey doesn’t want to take her place—she reaches out and gets as steady a grasp as she can on the dart, making a face when it seems to cling to her hand.

Getting as good stance as she can Audrey begins to pull, gritting her teeth when the dart gets stubborn and refuses to come out. “A little help maybe?” It comes out more snappish than she wanted, but to be fair Audrey’s pretty sure Conli meant that she had to be the one to touch it, not that she had to do this on her _own_.

Both of them jump into action, Nathan’s arms wrap around her waist, and she’s pretty sure Duke’s go around Nathan’s. “On three,” Duke says.

“One,” she finds herself saying in response, tensing herself up for the sharp movement to come.

“Two,” Nathan says behind her, his own grip tightening.

“Three,” Duke grunts, and almost as one they jerk back.

She ends up on top of both of them, the dart in her hands. Her shoulders sag in relief for a second before she rolls of Nathan, certain that Duke would like to breath soon. “It’s out,” she’s sure Conli noticed, but she also feels she needs to say it.

“Good,” Duke manages to get out from under Nathan, and a smile twitches at her lips as she watches him shove the other man off.

Before anything more can be said the door to the cabin opens again, and Audrey finds herself blinking in surprise when a woman steps out. Her clothes are practical, t-shirt, jeans, heavy boots. Looking at odds with her intricately braided red hair.

For a moment Audrey wonders if this is War—Conli had mentioned that she was a woman right now—but the woman’s eyes are a familiar copper color and she sighs when she sees Conli. “Mom, what the fuck happened?”

 _Mom_? She has a sister?

“Help me up,” is Conli’s only response.

Heaving another sigh the woman bridges the gap between them and with an easy show of strength scoops Conli up completely. Then she turns around to face the three of them. Her expression curious. “It’s good to finally met you, Audrey right?” Before Audrey can even say ‘yes’ the woman continues. “I’m your half-sister, Sigyn. And while I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions I’m pretty sure you want to go home more. Come on.”

Conli manages a laugh as Sigyn turns around to head back to the front door. “And people wonder why no one likes you dear.”

“Nothing wrong with cutting through bullshit to get to the heart of things,” Sigyn replies tartly.

Nathan and Duke look just as bemused as Audrey feels, but she follows, because Sigyn’s right. While she does have questions about the sister she apparently has, they do pale in comparison to her desire to be home. But she can’t resist the urge to ask _one_ question. “How do you know?”

“Hmm?” Sigyn asks as they all step back inside the cabin, the door closing behind them. She leads them into a doorway which ends up in another bedroom, and Sigyn goes over and lays Conli down.

“How do you know I want to go back to Haven?”

Sigyn shrugs as she goes to the doorway, a hand rising up and her fingers begin tracing symbols on the lintel. “It’s one of my powers, seeing bonds of loyalty. You’ve got a lot,” Audrey thinks that might be the strangest compliment she’s ever gotten. “But the strongest are those two,” copper eyes flick to Duke and Nathan—and somehow knowing that warms Audrey. “And to your town.” Sigyn’s attention turns back to her tracing. “Anything else _would_ fall to the wayside in the face of those bonds. And who am I to argue.” Audrey suspects this last bit is directed at Conli; and Audrey has a feeling that she and her half-sister will get along just fine.

The air in the doorway ripples, a sound of surprise leaves Duke, but Nathan has apparently seen this before if his non-reaction is anything to go by. By the time it smooths out, it’s no longer the hallway they see, but Haven’s main street. A sigh that relieves Audrey more than she thought it would.

“Go, I can take care of mom from here. Don’t know how much you’ll see of her for a while, taking care of her’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

“Better you than me,” it escapes Audrey without her meaning to and behind her she can hear Nathan choke back laughter.

“Yeah, yeah.” Sigyn rolls her eyes. “Now shoo. Oh, and you might want to get that thing destroyed.” For a second she doesn’t know what Sigyn’s talking about, but then she remembers the dart still in her hands.

But before she can ask _how_ she might be able to destroy it she’s being scooped up by Nathan and they’re practically rushing the portal as they pass through it.

Cold November air is almost a slap to the face after the warmth of Conli’s home. But oh, it’s a glorious one. It doesn’t stop her from twisting slightly and punching Nathan in the shoulder, for all the good it does. “Great, now I’ve got this thing I _should_ destroy but don’t know how.”

Nathan has the decency to look abashed at least. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“Cut him some slack Audrey,” Duke cajoles as they begin walking down Main street. She should probably ask where they’re going, but on the whole Audrey finds she doesn’t _care_. They’re back in Haven, back _home_. And that’s all that matters. “He’s probably just as eager to be back in Haven as you are.” Like Duke isn’t also.

Nathan glowers at Duke and Audrey finds herself biting back a smile. William might have more aether soon, and had delusions that he can be God, and that she’s his ‘rightful’ consort. But here in Haven, she feels invincible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only five more chapter's left...


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again this chapter has one of my favorite scenes (the second one).

James watches Jennifer play with the weird dart Audrey had brought back with her a few days ago. His sister turning it over and over in her hands, her gaze intent upon it. “Staring at it isn’t going to change it.” He tells her for what feels like the hundredth time.

He’s actually surprised she hasn’t destroyed it yet, that’s the reason Audrey gave it to her after all. But Jennifer’s kept it, something about it clearly entrancing her.

“I know,” she finally answers. “But it’s just so...interesting. It seems a shame to destroy it.”

“It almost killed nana,” he reminds, although he’s certain she hasn’t forgotten that fact. Audrey seemed certain that Conli would pull through, but it still unnerved him. Especially with the revelation that nana was also Life.

“Sush,” Jennifer snaps back, anger filtering into her voice. “Repeating shit I know isn’t helpful.” James decides to do the smart thing and shut up for at least a few minutes.

To distract himself he looks around. With a lack of anywhere else to be they’re hanging around at the Gull, at the moment they’re the only ones there, but James doesn’t doubt that a few diehards will be trickling in soon, even with the storm warning. It’s a nice sort of quiet however, contemplative and restful.

The remains of their late lunch are sitting between them, and with a sort of listlessness James picks up a fry and dips it into the remains of his ketchup before biting it in half.

Strange how calm Haven has become since Audrey, Nathan, and Duke returned. He doesn’t doubt that it’s temporary, he remembers how bad it was when it was him and Lucy, and this time it’s _worse_. Which must be Jennifer’s special brand of pessimism rubbing off on him.

Jennifer’s still staring at the dart like it will impart some great secret to her, so to keep himself from bothering her again he pulls one of the half-wilted flowers from the vase in the center of the table. Rolling the wet stem between his fingers he watches as his powers revive the flower, making it seem freshly picked instead of probably days old.

As he’s putting it back, and gearing up to, yes, pester Jennifer, the door opens.

He turns, blinking when he sees it’s Dwight and his daughter. He nods at James, clearly intended for the two of them not to bother him and Jennifer—not that James would mind, Dwight’s a pretty good guy—but it’s clear Lizzie has no such intentions.

She bounds over to them, her braided hair bouncing behind her. “Hi Mr. James, Ms. Jennifer.” At least Lizzie pulls Jennifer’s attention away from the dart.

“Hi Lizzie,” Jennifer gives her a bright smile, which grows a touch warmer when Dwight approaches; James is torn between being worried or trusting that Jennifer can take care of herself. “How’re you?”

As she and Lizzie chat James lets himself feel a moment of envy. He and Arla never got to talk about whether they wanted kids; but he’s always known he does.

“Sorry about barging in,” Dwight means it and James shrugs.

“It’s alright, we weren’t doing much.” Outside he can hear the wind pick up a little more. If the weather gets much worse they’ll have a hard time getting back to Claire’s. “Just wasting time,” it feels wrong to say that. None of them should be wasting time right now, William has more aether and who knows what he’s planning on doing with it.

Dwight gives a wry smile as he takes a seat.

“What’s that?” Lizzie’s question draws their attention back to her and Jennifer. Lizzie’s pointing at the dart, but isn’t trying to reach out to touch it, clearly having been taught better.

Jennifer rolls it between her hands again. “A very bad thing,” she answers. They watch as she continues to roll it between her hands, moving them so they were over her empty plate. And _now_ she destroys it, the whole of it turning to so much dust and making a neat pile.

“Wow,” James bites back a laugh, only in Haven. “That was _cool_. Can you do it again?”

“Lizzie,” Dwight patiently reprimands.

Jennifer blushes. “It’s not a problem Dwight.” Reaching out she grabs a flower, not the one he revived, from the vase. Unlike the dart it actually _withers_ , becoming wrinkled and desiccated before it too turns to dust.

“Can you do that all the time? What’s the biggest thing you’ve done that to? Have you tried it on a person?” Bloodthirsty little girl, it’s kind of adorable really. And if sensing her father’s about to chide her again she preemptively get her protesting in. “Daaadd.”

Dwight huffs. “Just because you’re curious doesn’t mean you can ask a million question honey.”

“I like it,” Jennifer steps in. “Always good to have a curious brain.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Dwight groans. “Her teachers don’t like me as it is.”

Lizzie reaches out and pats her dad’s shoulder. “I love you daddy, that’s better than any stinky teacher.” Another pang of envy flickers through James, maybe if the PI he’d hired hadn’t found anything this would have been his life, precocious, bloodthirsty children; it’s certainly not a bad one from his point of view.

“But yes Lizzie, I can do it all the time, but only if I think about it. An abandoned house is the biggest thing I’ve ever destroyed. And I’ve tried but my powers don’t work on people.” James finds himself unsurprised that Jennifer tried her powers on at least one person. “Which is part of my current problem,” she sighs.

“Something up?” There’s concern in Dwight’s voice as Nora finally comes to their table, leaving menus and waters for Lizzie and Dwight, while also clearing off their dishes, making a face at the pile of dust on Jennifer’s.

“Just the same old,” James answers before Jennifer can.

Jennifer shoots him a look before she slumps against the back of her chair. “Nana said I’m able to destroy aether,” she makes a gesture to where her plate once was, as if to confirm her statement—although according to Audrey that hadn’t been aether. “Which means I should be able to break the bond between Audrey and William,” a heartening thought for all of them when Jennifer had brought it up, yet… “But how can I do that when it’s between _people_ who my powers don’t work on.”

Lizzie looks politely concerned, or at least as concerned as a girl like her can really be about things that probably don’t interest her all that much; she picks up a menu and begins looking it over. Dwight’s brow is furrowed in thought however, and it’s heartening to know that there are strangers who are invested in helping them out.

Nora comes by again, and James feels a sense of bemusement when Lizzie orders for herself and her dad, which is certainly sweet. With food eventually on the way Lizzie turns her attention to the crayons and placemat Nora’d brought over.

Jennifer filches a crayon and begins doodling on a small notepad she’d produced from some pocket. Dwight’s still lost in thought, and James feels like a bit of a loose end. So he finds himself watching Lizzie give the pirate on the placemat bright blue hair.

Eventually food comes and it’s enough to stir Dwight. “Sorry,” he says before digging in. “Can’t think of anything that would help.”

“That’s alright,” Jennifer responds, her doodle turning into something more concrete. “I didn’t expect you to.” Something like a blush steals across Dwight’s cheeks. And for James’ own peace of mind he decides to just ignore it; his own non-existent relationship problems are enough for him, he doesn’t need to take on his sister’s too.

He turns his attention back to Jennifer’s drawing, only to frown when he realizes it's a caricature of him. “Hey,” he protest.

She rolls her eyes at him. “It’s a good likeness,” she teases. James can’t believe he was once jealous of people who had siblings. But she does stop drawing it, crayon moving onto something else.

“I like it,” Lizzie pipes up and James bites back a groan. Jennifer sniggers. Dwight wisely doesn’t say anything.

The table falls into silence for the next few minutes, each of them getting caught up in their own things, or at least everyone but James, who out of boredom plucks out the last flower that neither he nor Jennifer have touched and plays with the stem, seeing how long he can draw out reviving it.

“Holy...cow,” Jennifer’s outburst, and it’s clearly censored content, draws all their attentions to her. “That’s it! James you’re a genius.”

“I...am?” He’s certainly not going to discount her, even though he’s got no idea what she’s talking about.

“Yes! Because okay, I _should_ be able to break the bond because it’s a _thing_ not a person. But it’s attached to people, that I can’t effect with my powers. But you! You’re whole thing _is_ affecting people. So what if we did it together? You’re powers and mine should be able to break the bond _and_ draw the aether out of Audrey and WIlliam.”

Only Lizzie seems to initially understand Jennifer’s excited babble, but James finds himself catching on real quick. “Is that even possible?” Their powers are complete opposites of each other, getting them to work together like she’s implying will be _hard_.

“It won’t work unless we try it,” she answers with a shrug.

“Not to ruin the moment or anything,” Dwight cuts in, his tone vaguely wry. “But I don’t think WIlliam’s going to willingly let you do this.”

Jennifer doesn’t deflate, but she does lose some of her fever light. “Well it’s only the start of the plan. Better than we were five minutes ago,” she says tersely.

Dwight inclines his head. Above them the lights flicker, then flicker again. “Weather’s getting worse,” Nora tells them, tone apologetic. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ll get you to go boxes if you want them Dwight.”

“That’d be great,” he answers and reaches to pull out his wallet.

“Pay later,” she tells him. “The sooner you can get out the better at this point. Duke’ll understand. I’m planning on heading out when you do.”

The windows rattle slightly as the wind picks up again.

In a sort of hectic rush they gather their respective things and brave the sharp wind. James grimaces, winter is definitely not his favorite time of year. But once the heat in the car is blasting at them it’s slightly more bearable.

As he slowly drives back to Claire’s he and Jennifer toss ideas and suggestions back and forth, seeing what they can all work out before telling Audrey, Duke, and Nathan their plan.

-

Nathan...Nathan feels...there’s a yawning void in his chest, one that not even love can fill.

It hits him without warning. He’s in his house, enjoying a cup of coffee as he watches a winter storm whip up the cove thinking about painting it later, and it’s there. It leaves him shaky and jittery, like so many drug addicts he’s seen.

Staring out across the cove, the dark gray-black sky and gray-white water makes it worse and he closes his eyes and tries to breath.

He hears his coffee mug shatter and hardly cares, he’d been leaning forward before he closed his eyes but he thinks he might have stepped from the counter, he leans his weight against it and can barely even wonder what’s happening to him. All there is is the void, a desperate _need_ for something he cannot name, an ache or a pain so awful he can feel it.

The sound of footsteps should frighten him, while it could be Audrey or Duke, it could also be William; and he feels vulnerable, at the mercy of whomever this might be. If he could open his eyes he would, but now that they’re closed they refuse to open, keeping him in a dark emptiness.

“Nathanael?” Conli’s voice—he wants to be surprised, but he can’t even manage that—sounds as if it’s coming to him through water, distorted and muted. But her feet crunching through the remains of his mug are sharp and clear. He can’t focus on that though, more relieved that she is the one here, even if she shouldn’t be, because she might understand what’s going on with him, why he feels this way.

“I’m going to touch you,” she must be closer, not that he can tell by her voice. And the feeling of cool tiles under his palms barely registers as her hand rests on his bare forearm. “Nathanael, talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t.” Something about that is too funny for him to articulate why.

Finally he manages to figure out breathing again, and with it comes the ability to open his eyes. Although that hardly changes anything inside him. Turning his head he looks at her, she’s all sharp angles, harsh and unforgiving, but her copper eyes are warm and forever; a reflection of her own injured state? “I,” he sounds like he hasn’t spoken in centuries. “I don’t, help.”

His hands push off the counter and he falls into her. She moves with him, the two of them falling to the floor with grace and she catches him before he hits the ground. “Deep breaths, _hwe sta_ ,” he blinks back tears as she begins speaking to him in Angelic. It’s nothing more than gibberish to him now, the shape and tone meaningless.

Yet something in him eases, just enough that words come spilling out. Ones that ultimately fail at telling her what he feels, yet they’re all he has.

When they end her features have softened, become kindly and Madonna-like. “Oh Nathanael,” before it might have annoyed him, but somehow it’s now a comfort, even as it’s a painful reminder. “Close your eyes _yh moi_ , and trust me.”

He doesn’t understand what she’s talking about, but he can try and demand answers later. For now he closes his eyes, finding himself leaning into her touch slightly as she cups his cheeks and brings his face closer. Her lips press against his forehead and he’s falling.

Colors he once knew the names of swirl around him, and the world is not what it should be. Yet he finds himself being filled, the colors pouring into him and leaving the world blindingly pure. He gasps in pain and even that begins to fill him. Too much, it’s too…

He jerks himself away, the sensation of being on fire dying as Conli’s touch leaves him. Yet the echoes of it remain, leaving him feeling discomfited and... _itchy._ “What, what did you do?” He demands. From the way his eyes judder for the briefest second his body must be flailing around, but it soon stills, even if he can’t feel the floor or the cabinet on his right the solid realness of both steadies him.

Conli remains kneeling in the remains of his mug, careless of ceramic shards and coffee that seeps into her pants only to fade away an eyeblink later. “I gave you some divinity,” she shrugs as if it’s nothing. When it’s _everything_. Especially with her own wounds.

“You could have killed me,” his voice trembles in accusation. He might be an angel in spirit, but this form is still mortal—ish—still _human_. And while humans might have been made in God’s image they hadn’t been created to contain That.

Her features remain soft, but he eyes harden. “And could you have lived with _that_ eating you? Knowing that you could never touch the sky again? That the world is a dull flat thing with those eyes?” She bares her teeth. “It is impressive that you’ve held out this long, for true. Some would have expected your soul to cry out sooner than this, for it to realize what it’s lost and mourn. For it to begin to wither away.” She stands, her clothes dry before she even finishes. “Did you not stop to think why you never heard speak of others like yourself Nathanael? Or of Nephilim like your son?”

All he can do is stare at her for a time, her words...making sense, but the implications of them escaping him. “What?”

She sighs, both fond and annoyed. “Angels were not meant to be corporeal Nathanael, your souls can not contain it. It traps you and strains you to bursting all at once. They are your opposite and the fact that you have survived over a hundred and fifty years as one impresses even myself. It does not help however that you have had your nature pulled forth, it has done you more damage than you know.

“As for the others who have walked this path...they yearned for the skies and learned too late that there were no wings to lift them up, or they could not stand to see a world so void of what they knew to be there and would pluck out their eyes, or their tongues when they could not speak words they knew. The bodies failed them and so they sought freedom.” She shrugs again, something about the causal way she speaks about it angering him. “And Death welcomed them in as old friends.

“Yet you have blazed a trail of your own. And you remaining on that trail is good for me, so for now I will not let you falter from it. Should you cry out for what you once had again I shall give it to you for a span of eternity. Your death now does not benefit me as much as you remaining alive. So live you shall.” She steps over to him and brushed her fingers through his hair, flickers of sensation filling him at the touch.

“You have always been one who Gives Nathanael.” Something like a smile quirks her lips. “Perhaps it is a good thing you have Evander and Audrey to teach you to Take.”

She steps away from and he watches, feeling lost and unconnected, as she leaves. Looking down at his pants his fingers fumble for his phone, everything feeling even _more_ unresponsive as he watches his thumb press down on the two.

“Nathan?” There’s worry in Audrey’s voice as she answers. The breath he hadn’t realized he was holding leaves him in a noisy, shuddering sigh.

“Can...can you and Duke come here? I need you.” He trusts them to ground him, to bring him back to equilibrium.

Over the line he hears the rustle of fabric and a brief murmur of muffled conversation. “We’ll be there in a few.” It’s Duke who says it, and another sigh leaves Nathan. “Audrey says don’t move, by the way,” warm amusement flickers from Duke and Nathan is certain he’s reacting to it like a flower to the sun.

“Okay,” it’s an easy thing to agree to, because he’s not sure he _can_ walk. If he stands he half expects himself to float away, carried on wings he no longer has. It’s dangerous, and for the first time he feels fear of Conli.

-

While Nathan sounded alright on the phone Duke’s heart is still in his throat as he and Audrey let themselves into his house. They shed their coats, boots, and other winter wear, trying, in part, to get some warmth back into them. It’s fucking _cold_ outside, not to mention storming, and he finds himself vaguely regretting having only him and Audrey time, if the three of them were together they wouldn’t have to deal with winter to help out Nathan; not that it means he won’t do it if it happens again. Of course he will.

“Nathan?” Audrey calls out as when they don’t see him in the living room.

A second later he responds. “In the kitchen.”

Prepared for anything he and Audrey creep to the kitchen, both relieved to find only Nathan, kneeling on the floor, a shattered coffee mug nearby. Duke finds himself biting back an amused smile, seems like Audrey was right about that at least.

“What happened?” Audrey asks as she puts away her gun.

Nahan looks at the both of them like he’s seeing them for the first time, and it’s actually quite terrifying. “I’m, I don’t really know. I just, I need you both right now.”

Duke shares a glance with Audrey, “you clean up and I’ll take him to the bedroom?”

“Yeah,” Audrey nods as well, heading for a nearby closet, while Duke steps to Nathan. Who doesn’t fight when Duke scoops him up. In fact he snuggles closer, his face quickly burying itself in Duke’s hair.

“God,” he can very clearly hear Nathan inhaling and Duke doesn’t bother to bite back his smile since no one can see it.

In Nathan’s room Duke easily pulls back the covers one handed, before laying Nathan in the bed. Again Nathan doesn’t fight him when he begins to strip him, although Duke does stop when he reaches underwear.

Kicking off most of his own clothes he joins Nathan, pulling the covers around them, and is unsurprised when Nathan tries to get closer than he actually can. “Don’ wan’ sex,” Nathan’s words are muffled by Duke’s hair. “Just, this.”

“Alright,” Duke agrees, all for rewarding Nathan for using his words for once. In the kitchen he can hear Audrey finishing cleaning up. And less than five minutes later she’s in bed with them, curled tightly against Nathan’s back.

They remain like that for long enough that the lighting in the room start to grow even darker as it gets closer to night, the storm still going on around them. But hey, he’s more than okay with them just falling asleep like this.

He and Audrey keep up their easy touches, making sure Nathan knows they’re here and with him.

Eventually the lighting gets to the point that even Duke has trouble picking out details, but he can’t be bothered to let go of Nathan and try and turn on one of the bedside lamps. Still, Nathan’s so tightly pressed between them that it’s hard to miss anything that he does. Like the way his body finally relaxes, and for a brief second Duke thinks he might have fallen asleep.

But Nathan speaks up shortly thereafter. “Thank you, both of you. I was just...disconnected and _terrified_. It was like...the world was too...There was something inside me…” Nathan makes a frustrated sound. “I can’t, I can’t describe it like this,” anger at himself fills his voice and Audrey makes an angry sound of her own in response.

“Then Lady Conli came,” it’s weird to hear Nathan consistently use a title like that. “And she...fixed me, but she also made things worse and…” Duke loosens his hold on Nathan when he feels the other man start to turn around, letting out a soft, amused sigh when Nathan shifts down so he can bury his face in Audrey’s cleavage; Audrey just straight up laughs, if softly. “She told me it was all because I was an angel in a human body and...I just, needed grounding.”

Duke hopes Audrey understood more of that than he did, because he’s not quite sure what Nathan’s talking about, but that doesn’t mean he’s not scared for Nathan, and whatever might be happening to him. As if dealing with William wasn’t enough, now something is happening to Nathan.

Part of him hopes that it’s being caused by William, then it would be an easy thing to stop. But he doubts they’re that lucky.

“It’s okay Nathan,” Audrey runs her hand through Nathan’s hair like she’s petting him. Duke joins in, letting his nails trail over and across Nathan’s back. “We’ve got you. We always will.”

“What she said,” Duke says, voice gruffer than he meant it to be. “Won’t ever try to let you down again.” Sure it’s a lot to live up to, but what was life without some challenge and struggle? Especially when he _wanted_ to live up to their expectations.

“Love you,” Nathan mutters, voice turning sleepy. “Both, more than ever.” Over Nathan he and Audrey share a smile, both so happy for the other.

“Love you too Nate,” Duke responds, doing some acrobatics so he can reach Nathan’s cheek to give it a kiss.

They fall silent again, long enough that Duke begins to fall asleep, slipping deeper and deeper until Nathan’s matter of fact voice yanks him from it. “I think I might be dying.”

He’s still processing that, because he doesn’t _want_ to, when Audrey snaps. “What?”

Nathan shifts awkwardly, and Duke finds himself pinning the other man so it’s harder for him to try and get away. “Something Lady Conli said, that all the others like me had killed themselves and that my soul was...withering, and you pulling out my angelic nature-” Duke finds himself slapping his hand over Nathan’s mouth because he can’t bear to hear anymore.

Audrey sits up, or at least that’s what it sounds like from the sheets. “I’m going to…” a wolf-worthy snarl leaves Audrey. “Conli and I are going to have a _talk_.” From the way the windows of Nathan’s cottage begin to rattle Duke’s more than willing to bet the storm’s picked up, in the immediate vicinity of Audrey.

“No,” Nathan shifts slightly away and Duke lets him, just barely catching the whisper of Nathan’s hand wrapping around some part of Audrey. “She _did_ help me, she said I’m doing more good for her by being alive.” Which is _such_ a comfort in Duke’s mind.

“That doesn't mean it’s okay that it happened,” Duke points out. Conli isn’t someone he’d want as an enemy, and he finds himself questioning whether they want her as an ally too. Not that she’s been much of the latter.

On the other hand, she was technically _the_ force of nature, holding her to ‘normal’ things like that just feels odd and kind of unsettling.

With a shake of his head he tries to dislodge those thoughts, with Conli basically out of the picture, they were kind of pointless.

Audrey sighs and flops back onto them, knocking the breath out of him slightly and drawing him back to the present better than his own mental actions had. “We’re going to fix you,” Duke finds his own optimism rising at Audrey’s fierce tone. “There’s a way out of you dying, I _know_ it.

Nathan shifts, an uncomfortable twang in his scent. “Audrey…”

“No,” Duke butts in. “You tell us that you think you’re dying and you think we’re just going to idly sit by and let it happen?” His own tone grows as equally fierce as Audrey, with some anger as well. Nathan’s just blindly accepting the fate he thinks he’s been given and it grates more now than Duke expected it to.

Fumbling he eventually finds Nathan’s face and pulls him in for a messy kiss. Trying to convince Nathan that he’s something they _want_ to hold on to, to keep.

Duke can feel Nathan’s tears on his hands when he pulls away, and Nathan’s repeating ‘sorry’ over and over, so much so that it sounds like nonsense.

“Shh,” Audrey soothes as she moves in for her own kiss, Duke obligingly moves his hands. “There’s nothing to apologize for Nathan, we love you. And we’re not going to stop, and we’re not going to let you go.”

“Never,” Duke agrees. His hands begin to slide down, mapping out Nathan by touch. “We’ll keep showing you, forever if need be.”

And with Nathan’s hands blindly reaching for them, they start.


	38. Chapter 38

In the morning, pleasantly sore and worn out, Audrey awakes. Rolling over onto Nathan slightly she peers through the dim darkness. Her eyes just barely making out the time on the analog clock Nathan kept at his bedside. _4 AM_ , she groans softly at that, and buries her face in a pillow for a few seconds in an attempt to go back to sleep.

When that doesn’t work she groans again, slowly crawling out of bed—hopefully not disturbing Duke or Nathan—and pulling on one of Duke’s sweaters she pads into the kitchen, intent on starting coffee. She shivers at the chill in the air, the matter of turning on the heat sliding by all of them in the wake of more important things.

Fumbling in the darkness for the light switch she frowns when it doesn’t seem to work. The power must have gone out. She heaves a sigh and wonders what the hell she’s going to do.

Well if she can’t get artificial light hopefully there’ll be some natural light. It’s nowhere near sunrise, but the moon should still be up, so she cautiously makes her way to the curtain over the sink and pulls it open, blinking at the stunning brightness that greets her.

The world has changed completely while the slept, a layer of snow covering the whole cove and reflecting the moonlight far better than she could have hoped; casting everything in the kitchen into pale shadows of what they usually were.

“MmmAudrey?” she turns to see Nathan in the doorway, his face looking like he might fall asleep at any second, and what’re probably Duke’s boxers—they’ve got rubber duckies printed on them—slung low on his hips.

She bites back a smile as she goes to him and wraps her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his chest. “The power’s out,” she tells him quietly. Not sure if he’s even coherent enough to understand that.

He blinks down at her blearily, “fire?”

“I don’t know how to start a fire Nathan,” joining the girl scouts was never big on her list of things to do. “We could just go back to bed, it’s far too damn early.” She knows they probably won’t get much sleep in before they’re called in to help out, especially with all this snow, but any extra bit of rest is better than none right now.

Nathan looks at her for a moment, his hair’s sticking up at odd angles and it makes her bite back a smile. “If we don’t get a fire started now the house won’t get warm for a while yet.” He sounds more awake now, but his voice still has a sleep rough quality that makes her shiver. “But,” his smile looks different in the moonlight. “I know a good way to warm up up now…” He drifts off as she finds herself being spun around, his own arms wrapping her around her, one across her waist, and the other across her thighs, the hand there settling awfully close to the hem of her sweater.

He hunches down, which can’t be comfortable for him but if he’s planning on doing what she thinks he is she’s certainly not going to fight him, and she lets her head fall back against his shoulder. “And what would that be?” She asks coyly, yet unable to hide the smile on her face.

The hand on her thigh creeps up, the hem of her sweater rising slightly as his hand slides under. “Oh you know,” he fails at sounding casual, but she doesn’t care. His hand creeps higher, fingers just brushing her labia. “The usual.”

She opens her mouth to reply but it comes out a strangled sigh when his thumb gently circles her clit, his fingers still brushing her labia.

It’s wonderful how Nathan delights in using his hands during sex, being able to feel emboldening him. His teasing has her whimpering now, wishing he would do _more_. Needing it.

And when he finally does slide two fingers in she cries out, her hands scrabbling to get purchase on Nathan, one tangling with the arm around her waist the other grasping his hair, giving firm tugs with each pump of his fingers. “Nathan,” she finds herself arching onto her tiptoes to try and give him better access.

“Audrey,” he pants back at her. His fingers twist and move in her while his thumb keeps up that teasing circling.

It keeps her on the edge of orgasm and her grip on him tightens in silent demand. Not that she stays silent for long. “Now,” it’s too much of a whimper to be a demand. Her fingers in his arm dig in tight, probably drawing blood but she knows now that Nathan likes it, the brief sparks of pain egging him on.

His thumb presses into her clit firmly while his fingers shift up slightly to rub her g-spot. She orgasms with a cry, her body firmly tense for one blissful moment before she slumps into him completely, his grip shifting slightly to better hold her.

“That was almost worth the ungodly wakeup,” Duke’s amused, and clearly turned on, voice says behind them. She feels Nathan shift the both of them slightly and her eyes flutter open to see Duke walks around them, coming to a stop in front of her.

Still riding the high of her orgasm she watches as one of Duke’s own hands slides under her sweater to join Nathan’s for a brief moment, before gently pulling Nathan’s out and bringing it up to his mouth.

She and Nathan make almost matching groans as Duke cleans Nathan’s hand. When he finishes he keeps hold of Nathan’s hand and ducks down to give her a kiss. She tries to chase him when he pulls away, but soon finds herself pressed between his and Nathan’s chests as they share a kiss of their own.

“But also,” Duke pulls off conversational better than Nathan did, he also sounds far more awake, she entertains the idea that she’d be able to learn how to do that. “It’s fucking cold in here. What happened?”

“Power went out,” Audrey tells him with a yawn. “Snowed too.”

Nathan, hesitant in clear unwillingness, pulls away from her. “Was gonna go out and get wood for the stove and fireplace.” Before Audrey’d thought the pot-bellied stove Nathan had was just quaint charm—his cottage certainly has a lot of it—but now she’s grateful that he’s got it. “Should probably shovel out the Bronco too.”

Yes, because like or not, she and Nathan will probably get called in for work. First big storm of the year _and_ it snowed? Not to mention William was still out there somewhere. She would love to enjoy this morning, warm fire, lazy sex, good food. But they can’t have that, not yet at least.

Duke gives an exaggerated sigh. “Maybe I should just hide your cells and tie you up, cause right now I think that’s the only way we’re gonna get time to relax.”

A laugh leaves Audrey, but it doesn’t escape her notice that Nathan blushes, or at least it _looks_ like a blush, harder to tell in this dim light. Part of her wants to tease him, because she loves watching him blush; but the necessities of real life are rearing their ugly heads, cutting short their moment.

“Well,” Audrey says briskly. “I’m gonna let you two figure out which of you’s going to brave the cold. _I’m_ gonna go curl back up in bed.”

“I want my sweater back,” Duke calls after her.

-

In the end both Duke and Nathan go out. Nathan’s fairly certain that he could have done all of this on his own, let Duke and Audrey have some rest. He couldn’t feel the cold after all, and would be fine spending longer out there.

But Duke insisted. So they’d pulled on winter wear and Nathan’d unearthed some headlamps from his rarely used camping gear. “I’ll do the firewood so I can start breakfast,” which left Nathan to shovel.

Not that he minds, even if he can’t feel the cold, he knows the work is doing him some good. Getting him moving, making him focus on something other than his thoughts. For which his grateful. Anything is better than thinking about how he might be dying. Where he might end up. What he’ll be leaving behind if he does. He shakes his head, his breath leaving him in a puff of steam as he exhales.

Around the corner he can hear Duke and the steady _shunk_ of an ax. It makes a nice counterpoint to the sounds of Nathan’s own shoveling.

He’s about halfway done when he hears the front door open. “I’m headed in Nate.” Duke says, even though it’s quiet it still sounds loud in the peacefulness of pre-dawn.

“Alright,” Nathan replies just as softly. His shoveling nearly covering up the sound of the door closing.

A few minutes later he can smell the smoke coming from the fireplace and stove. A smell that comforts him, reminds him of what he’s got waiting for him inside. He finds himself shoving quicker, eager to get back in.

Three-fourths of the way through he spots something in the edges of his headlamp, a dark shape over on the other side of the highway.

He’s not all that worried, it’s probably just a deer or moose; he knows that if he doesn’t bother it it won’t bother him. Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t keep an eye on it. Even though it’s likely harmless there’s the off chance that it could be a cougar or a wolf. Or even something supernatural. At least he knows he won’t have a hard time making himself look big and scary. He keeps shoveling.

When he finally reaches the end of his driveway he realize that it’s _not_ an animal. It’s a man. The beam of his headlamp revealing not just anyone, but William’s flunky. Standing across the highway from him, watching. If he had planned on attacking Nathan he should have done it by now—then again he could have been waiting for Nathan to exhaust himself with shoveling. The creaking plastic of the shovel’s shaft is almost like gunshots.

Still all the brute does is stand there, watching.

Trusting that nothing’s suddenly fallen onto the path he just cleared Nathan takes a few steps back, cursing his lack of feeling when his vision and headlap shake from nearly stumbling. Yet still the other man stays on the other side of the highway, like he’s more a statue than man.

It’s creepy, but also somewhat heartening, because it means he’s probably _not_ here to attack them, only to watch. Doesn’t mean he’s happy either way.

But it does mean he can turn around and actually _walk_ back to the house, ears straining just in case he’s wrong.

He makes it and leaning the shovel against the porch rail he opens the door and goes in. He sloughs his outerwear, the smells of coffee and food reaching his nose. Following it he ends up back in the kitchen, where Audrey and Duke are sitting on the counter, empty plates beside them and mugs of coffee clutched in their hands. The door of the stove is open, letting out a ruddy light and probably some warmth. They both smile at him.

“There’s food on the stove, coffee too,” Duke gestures to the battered steel coffee pot and a covered cast iron skillet.

“I love you,” Nathan responds as he grabs a plate and mug and goes to serve himself. Eggs, sausage, and _pancakes_. “Definitely love you.” Out of the corner of his eye he can see Audrey try, and fail, to hide a grin behind her mug; Duke doesn’t even bother to hide his.

He leans against the counter next to Audrey, shoveling food in just as quickly as he’d been shoveling snow. A sign that he’s hungrier than he thought.

He gives a little jump when Audrey’s hand comes to rest on his neck, thumb rubbing circles right behind his ear. The kitchen is toasty warm, and he can feel the soreness of his muscles, and the hunger in his belly. “You get it all done?” Next to her Duke slides off the counter, grabbing the skillet and coffee pot and putting them in the sink.

He swallows. “Yeah,” he shoves more lovely fluffy pancakes in his mouth. He knows he should tell them about their watcher, but not right now. Not in this quiet moment of peace.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Duke dip a pinky into his coffee. “Not too hot,” he says off handedly, drawing a smile to Nathan’s face. Yes, with Audrey touching him he would have been able to tell that fact himself; but the fact Duke does it without thought, it warms him in a way no fire or coffee could.

“We’re gonna get called in soon,” at least that’s what experience tells him. The people of Haven might be used to such storms, but things always crop up. He leans a shoulder into hers as he finishes his food and trades his plate for his coffee.

Audrey pouts, and leans back. She’s still only dressed in Duke’s sweater, his faint smile tugs into a grin; a third sort of heat curling in his gut.

“Work clearly doesn’t understand today is for hunkering in.” He agrees, but the world won’t stop for them, no matter how much they might want it. As he sips his coffee Audrey slides down from the counter, the sweater riding up, giving him and Duke a nice little show. “I guess I should get dressed-dressed then.”

“ _Then_ can I have my sweater back?” Despite his grousing there’s a smile on Duke’s face. “Although I gotta say, having three of my favorite scents with me all day goes a long way to offsetting the loneliness.”

Nathan sips his coffee. “Not going into work today?”

Dukes shakes his head. “Already let everyone know yesterday the Gull wouldn’t be open. But I still have to check on the _Rouge_. Left the heat on, but her pipes might still freeze. Could probably swing by the station when I’m done.”

Finishing his coffee he sidles up to Duke and kisses him, warmth filling him again. When he pulls away he’s certain his expression matches Duke’s. “That’d be nice. Jennifer and James could probably be checked on too.” He’s certain they made it through the storm okay, if with many complaints about the temperature, but Nathan would like to think he’s allow a _little_ worry.

“Yeah,” Duke replies.

But before he can say anything more the radio crackles to life. “Nathan honey?” Laverne sounds a cheery as ever.

He grabs the radio on his way to the bedroom. “Chief want us to come in?”

“Read my mind,” she teases as he passes a fully clothed Audrey. “No need to rush, just the usual.”

“Alright, we’ll be in soon.” Setting the radio down he dresses, reminding himself over and over that even if he can’t feel it he needs to dress against the cold; frostbite is something he’d just rather not have to deal with at all, regardless of whether or not he’d heal.

When he exits he meets Audrey by the door, stopping her before she can open it and tugging her back a few steps. “Nathan,” she sounds aggravated, clearly thinking he’s trying to delay them.

“There’s something that you need to know first,” he says, tone serious. Her arched eyebrow questions that but she doesn’t protest. So he continues. “William’s henchman is outside, watching the house.” Unfortunately there’s only one way off of his property and that’s the driveway. _Maybe_ if they had a shallow-keeled boat they could have gone by ocean, but it takes far longer to get into Haven that way.

“What?” She hisses, and Nathan can hear Duke pause in the bedroom. “When did you see him?”

“When I was shoveling,” he manages to sound at least a _little_ contrite, because he knows Audrey won’t be happy that he didn’t mention it sooner. “He only seems to be watching, but I don’t know if that will change when you step out there.” After all it’s her WIlliam wants, well the ‘her’ he thinks is still inside Audrey.

Audrey narrows her eyes at him and takes a deep breath, he braces himself for her tirade only to be caught off guard when she responds. “Okay, fine. He had to do something like this eventually right?” She throws back her shoulders.

“You’re not mad at me?”

Her sigh is fonder than he expected. “I’m _annoyed_ at you, but I understand. Now come on, we’ve got work to do. Duke?” She only raises her voice slightly.

“Yep, I’ll let you know if he follows or stays here,” is Duke’s all too cheery response. “And dive right in if he comes for you.” Nathan’s pretty confident he’s wearing a smile that matches Audrey’s.

“Okay,” Audrey rolls her shoulders and turns to face the door. “Let’s go Wuornos.”

-

Good news is, flunky only seemed intent on following Audrey and Nathan, bad news is he’s following Audrey and Nathan; and Duke wouldn’t doubt he and William were connected somehow that allows William to know everything his flunky does.

Duke wisely takes that frustration out on the _Rouge’s_ pipes. He’d left the heat on when he and Audrey had all but dashed pell mell from the boat last night; but some of the pipes closer to the hull have still frozen over. And since he’d much prefer for her to keep functioning he’s got to defrost them.

It takes longer than he’d like, but when he finishes he’s got just enough time to take the world’s fastest shower, and make up lunch to bring to Audrey and Nathan. He won’t have time to do the check he’d promised Nathan on Jennifer and James, but they were adults and could look after themselves.

Getting to the station takes longer than usual of course, which is a pain in the ass, and reminds him that he probably really should put chains on his tires, but he gets there at a time most people would still consider ‘lunch’.

Carla at the desk barely even spares him a second glance—telling in and of itself for his reputation here he’s sure—before waving him through.

He finds Audrey and Nathan in their office, with James and Jennifer. They all look at him when he enters, then at the bags of food. “I only have enough for three people,” he says pointedly. Just in case Jennifer and James think some of it is for them—had he known they’d be her he would’ve cooked more. “Sorry.” Not that he wants to kick the two of them out, they’re clearly here for a reason, the both of them almost vibrating with energy.

“That’s okay,” Jennifer response with a big smile as she paces. “We ate before we came here!”

James nods when Duke shoots him a questioning look, and good. He doles out the chicken noodle soup he made and settles in on the couch with James.

There’s only a few seconds of silence and the three of them eat. Then Jennifer bursts out with: “we think we figured out how to break the bond between Audrey and William!”

“Really?” Audrey doesn’t say it _incredulously_ , but she clearly doesn’t want to throw all her weight behind the idea just yet. Duke’s sure he and Nathan don’t feel the same way.

“Totally,” Jennifer enthuses, and Duke is starting to suspect she’s had a bit too much coffee. “James and I stayed up all night working it out, it was so much fun! But we really did work out a way that it could work. James and I can’t really _test_ it,” she gives a shrug as she moves. “But we did try to mix our powers.”

“There was a surprising amount of light,” James butted in.

Jennifer flaps her hands, clearly displeased that she’d been interrupted. “They were cool! Anyway, that totally works, so this idea should totally pan out. But we’ll need William there, we can’t just do it on Audrey.”

Which Duke feels certain is going to be the hardest part, William isn’t just going to let them do this to him. And they can’t injure him without hurting Audrey—although he doesn’t doubt that if they need to Audrey will let herself be hurt if it means they can get William where they want him.

“I think I’ve got a good idea of how to find him,” Nathan speaks up, something like a cocksure smile on his face; if the kids weren’t there Duke would probably be trying to do something inappropriate about now.

-

Even though it’s been a few days since they drew out their plan Jennifer still finds herself buzzing with energy—so maybe letting Kat show them how to mix coffee and Red Bull hadn’t been the best idea. It doesn’t make her jumpy at least, but she certainly feels a lot nosier.

Case in point: Audrey and Duke were out doing something with the Guard—which Nathan’d been right they were totally the best way to track down William—while Claire and James were probably doing something equally important. And what is she doing?

Going to Nathan’s house, because she can. Curiosity driving her to know _why_ he’s here, and not out with the rest.

She knocks, but the door opens when she tries the handle. “Nathan?” She calls out, sticking her head through the gap in the door.

He doesn’t answer, but it’s clear to see why.

He’s working out, all the furniture in his front room pushed up against the walls, clearly giving him just enough room to do what almost looks like dancing, with a sword. She can’t help but gape at him a little as she watches him work through the movements. She doesn’t know much about fighting with weapons, except for maybe a bit of knife skills, most of her life never having needed it—although ask her to kill and butcher any sort of farm animal and she would totally be your girl. But she can completely believe that he’s a pro.

Without realizing it she’s stepped inside, her hands fumbling behind her to close the door to keep the heat in. It doesn’t quite _slam_ shut, but it’s apparently loud enough to draw him from his focus. He blinks at her for a second, before exhaling and resting the sword on his coffee table; it’s almost funny how much it doesn’t fit with everything else.

“Is there something I should know?” He rubs at his face with a towel.

“What?” She finds herself looking around for no reason. Before finally giving a shake of her head. “No, sorry. I was, ah, just curious. I would have thought you’d be out helping everyone else.” Definitely the sort of guy you expected to be in the middle of things.

He flops onto the couch, and since he’s not telling her to get out, she takes a few more steps in, after actually stopping to take off her boots. “It’s been so long since I used a sword,” he tells the ceiling. “That I wanted to make sure I hadn’t gotten rusty. Pretty sure by the time this is all over I’m going to need those skills.” A fair assumption.

She finds herself taking a tentative seat in an armchair. “Well it certainly didn’t look rusty to me.” She tells him honestly.

“Thanks,” his head moves to look at her and he gives a really nice smile; she can see why her parents love him. He leans forward and reaching out grabs the sword again, giving it a few lazy twirls that seem quite impressive from where she’s sitting. “‘Course that’s not the hard part?”

“It’s not?” What could be harder than doing a lot of working out to make sure you were ready for a confrontation.

“No,” his lips tug. “I’ve got to think of a name for her.”

Interesting. “Well I’m no help for you in _that_ department, when I was a kid we had a sheepdog that I named sheep. And my editors were always on my case to think of better titles for my articles.” She got what they were coming from sure, but thinking of something clever and witty that would catch people’s attention was _hard_.

He huffs. “Exactly, but going into battle without naming her feels strange.” He bring the sword up so that, from her perspective, it’s covering his eyes. A lot of the local girls from her childhood claimed that mirrors were excellent divination tools, she contemplates whether the same could be said for swords.

Even though there’s energy still zinging through her she remains quiet, letting him have his thoughts, she is sort of an intruder after all.

Then it starts getting towards the point where the silence is more uncomfortable—at least to her—than anything else. She chews on her thumb nail.

“ _Astyrwa_ ,” the word, well ‘makes her feel funny’ is kind of an understatement. Her ears feel like they’re ready to pop, and she automatically goes through motions of doing so. And the rest of her feels itchy for a second, but it quickly passes.

“What was that?”

The sword clatters to the floor and she rubs her ears at the loud sound. He again blinks at her, like he’d forgotten she was there, something she’s totally willing to believe. “What?”

“You said a word, a weird one.” She couldn’t even begin to guess what language it was, let alone what it might _mean_. Granted it sounded too pretty a name to be given to a sword, if that was the reason he’d said it.

He frowns as he picks up the sword again, his thumb running along the edge, probably to make sure he hadn’t damaged it. “What, what did I say?” Wow how out of it had he been?

“Asteria? Esterma?” Her nose wrinkles. “Aestria? I swear I remember _exactly_ how you said it, but I can’t-”

“Say it.” Nathan finishes for her, his face going white as a sheet as she watches.

“Nathan?” Clearly _something_ just happened, and it’s worrying him. A lot.

Setting his sword down again he shakes his head and scrubs his hands over his face. “It’s…” He gives a brief bitter laugh. “Don’t, worry about it. I’m fine, just...caught off guard.” His head moves slightly and something like a jolt passes through her as he looks her straight in the eye. “Please, don’t tell Duke and Audrey about that. Please.”

She frowns, narrowing her eyes. “Why not?” She doesn’t think this is the best time to start keeping secrets from others; even if this feels relatively minor in the grand scheme. It’s more than likely to snowball out of control and who knows what trouble something this small might start.

“They already know the worst of it, this, this is just a...minor symptom. It’s nothing they need to be bothered about.” The shape of it feels like the truth, enough that she’s willing to trust him for now; but she’s definitely going to be asking Duke and Audrey what might be going on with Nathan.

“Alright,” she finally answers, standing. “I’m holding you to that, but if this blows up I reserve the right to say I told you so.” It’s probably a losing battle to try and bite back her smile. “I should probably go and try and make myself actually useful.” Not that there’s much for her and James to do other than run around. They’re far too important for the last part of this plan for them to do anything close to important _now_.

Nathan grabs the sheath on the coffee table and puts his sword in it, “if you wait a sec I’ll come with. Need to focus on something else.”

“Works for me,” she returns to the entryway and tugs on her boots, spinning the keyring for Audrey’s car around her finger while she waits. She’s got a feeling this will be over sooner rather than later, and she’ll be grateful for it.

-

Audrey feels exposed, but then again that’s half the point at the moment. She needs to be easy to find.

When it had come to this part of the plan Nathan and Duke had loudly protest her being bait. She understands why, but when it comes down to it _she_ ’ _s_ the only choice. Anyone else and William might suspect the trap.

True he might realize it’s a trap with her as well, but they were banking on his desire to have ‘Mara’ outweighing any other thoughts.

Not that she likes being weaponless and vulnerable as much as anyone else does. She huddles into her coat as the wind picks up again. It’s almost Thanksgiving now and it’s staggering to think that the coldest part of the year has yet to come.

Her wandering is mostly aimless, they’re using the info the Guard has on William’s movement to guess where he’s most likely to be, and this patch of the docks could be considered his ‘stomping grounds’. Which makes sense with she’d passed the boathouse where she’d ended up being ‘shot’ nearby. She turns down a narrow side street, part of her wants to shout William’s name, but if he’s here she’s pretty sure he’ll know, even without her shouting. Snow crunches under her boots, this far out from the downtown area the streets haven’t been swept clean.

Turning back onto one of the main streets she nearly crashes into him. “Well, well.” He smiles as his hand reaches out to steady her. “This is an unexpected surprise,” he drawls, tugging her slightly closer.

Biting back the urge to struggle she lets him. “I had some questions for you.” There isn’t exactly a script for this, she just has to stall him long enough. But she’s certain she knows what will get him to talk. “About Mara.” Honestly Audrey doesn’t really care about her first self, except that without her actions Audrey wouldn’t be here today—both the good and the bad—yet _Audrey_ knows Mara won’t ever be coming back, so why bother learning more about her?

Yet William’s eyes brighten as he leads her down yet another narrow path. “Finally,” it curdles her stomach to see a genuine smile from him, it’s just...unreal. “I’m an open book sweetheart.”

“What was she like?” Those sorts of questions are easy to ask at least, he whole thing more bearable to get through if she treats this like an investigation, that Mara is just another victim to find out about.

“Mara is one of a kind,” his teeth flash. “But you know that already don’t you. She had this way of, just seeing right to the heart of the problem, how best to go about dealing with it. She made things easy to handle. And everyone loved her, she would light up the room when she entered. But she only had eyes for me.”

Resisting the urge to vomit Audrey keeps following, grateful that if Duke loses track of her she’s got a tracking chip on her—and _in_ her, in case William finds the first. “What sort of things did she like to do?”

He takes them into a cramped looking building. “She loved to read, would consume any book I got her, no matter the language, she had a way with them. She would play the harp sometimes, or the violin; it’d be like those Disney movies, the beautiful princess surrounded by all manner of woodland creatures.” Finally he stops in a small room. It’s lit by only a bare bulb from the ceiling, and holds two things, a table with a box on it, and a chair. A chair with _someone_ tied to it, she can tell it’s a woman, but other than that not much, there’s a hood over her head; and except for her bra her torso is completely bare.

“But most of all she loved experimenting with aether, loved finding new ways for us to use it and exploit what it could do.” The woman in the chair doesn’t respond, Audrey’s certain she’s still alive, but beyond that...

Audrey’s blood goes cold, because she has a good idea of what’s going to happen next, and what might happen if she doesn’t cooperate—she hopes the others are planning of striking soon.

William goes to the box and opens it, revealing a sizable lump of aether. “So,” He breaks off a piece of the aether and turns back to her, holding it out. “I realized what better way to bring Mara back than to have you do what she did best.” He raises his hand slightly in encouragement.

Every part of her screaming not to she strips off her gloves and picks it up. “Your mother probably showed you what to do.”

Sort of, but it’s easy to guess the rest. She closes her hand around the ball, crushing it, it tingles as it spreads over her hand. When she opens her hand to show it to William it’s covered in aether dust. “What now?”

“Now,” he puts his hands on her shoulders and turns her more towards his victim. “You put your hand anywhere on her skin. You close your eyes and you focus, it’ll get easier the more you do it, so don’t worry if it takes a while. And she’s already supernatural, so all you’ll be doing is enhancing her abilities.”

_Any second now_ , Audrey thinks to herself as she steps towards this poor woman. _Any second now this will be over_. The closer she gets to the woman, the more her hand begins to tingle again. A constant itching sensation that’s hard to ignore.

Gritting her teeth she bears it as best she can however, because the whole idea rests on William’s focus being on her. So he needs to believe she’s willing to do this.

With great effort she raises her hand and places it between the woman’s shoulder blades, her skin is cool to the touch and worry fills Audrey that she might be close to hypothermia, who knows how long William’s had her like this.

Closing her eyes Audrey takes a deep breath, _come on, come on_. Mara’s never coming back, Audrey knows that, but she doesn’t want William to realize that that might not be the case, that he can’t ever ‘get’ her back.

-

William watches her with an almost fanatical pleasure. Finally Mara will come back to him, just like she should, and with her behind him nothing will be able to stop his rise to power. Soon everything will be _perfect_.

Alarms blare in his head and he whirls around, just in time to get hit in in the _neck_ by a tranq dart. Yanking it out he snarls and lunges at Crocker, who’s raising up the rifle again to shoot.

He only gets a few steps before he begins to feel woozy, he whips his head around to see ‘Audrey’ stumble as well, the sedative affecting her just as it would him. Another burst of pain passes through him as he gets hit with another dart. His vision begins to go watery, as do the sounds around him. But his eyes don’t start to slide shut until after he sees that bastard angel and the monstrous children enter the room as well.

William isn’t given a choice as unconsciousness finally pulls him under.

He comes to who knows how much later to a low level pain. The sort one feels in their bones. He tries to move, but he’s been bound, if loosely; and the hand on his shoulder tightens it’s grip. Slowly, he doesn’t want to impede his vision, he raises his head to look around. Crocker and the angel are standing in front of him, looking like poor man’s bouncers.

‘Audrey’ is in the chair next to him, a hand on her shoulder too. A hand belonging to the little bastard he killed, which means the hand on his shoulder’s got to be the bitch girl.

Which is about when he realizes what’s going on.

The bond, they’re breaking it.

Straining his muscles he tries to loosen the rope around his wrists, it works, but not enough for him to get loose _now_. The pain in him shifts, becomes less in his bones and more like someone's trying to pull out a tendon.

He struggles again, they can’t destroy it, it’s proof that he’s the only one capable of defeating God; if he could convince the daughter of Life and Death to tie herself to him for all eternity then there was no end to what else he could accomplish.

And they were going to tear it from him, because Mara had forgotten herself and thought she knew better.

Once again the pain shifted, to right behind his eyes and he gritted his teeth and squinted. But he forced his eyes open again, staring past the two men to the table beyond. The table with the aether everyone seemed to have forgotten.

He forces his body to relax, they might break this bond, but he’s got more than enough aether that Mara can rebind them. And cause some chaos in the meantime. He even has the perfect target in mind.

Turning inward slightly he focuses on getting free, once he’s done that the rest will fall in line. The rope is tough, but all they’ve done is bind his arms behind the back of the chair. Not even his legs are bound, they probably trusted whatever they tranqued him with to last longer than it did—then again it clearly lasted longer than _he_ thought it would, he grudgingly gives them kudos for that.

Millimeter by millimeter he feels the rope begin to loosen, accompanied by a constant background hum of pain as the monster kids work him over. He’s going to have to make treble sure that their both dead soon, otherwise they might try something like this again—and if they can do this what other things can they do?

The bond winds thinner and thinner, until it’s no more than a thread of spider silk.

Then even that is no more.

He would have thought the actual breaking would be more...climatic than that. And apparently he’s not the only one.

“It’s done!” The girl crows, her hand leaving his shoulder. On ‘Audrey’s’ side the resurrection boy heaves a sigh.

“She’s right,” he says. Opening his hand to reveal a sizeable chunk of aether, William won’t even have to get to the table to get what he needs.

“Good,” the angel says. “Let’s knock him out, and get away.”

Oh, they won’t even get the chance.

_Finally_ the ropes tear and William springs into action.

He goes sideways angling for the boy, since he’s not expecting it they go down and roll around for a few seconds before William gets the upper hand, he punches out the boy, and takes the aether. Mentally he reaches out and jerks on the less powerful bond between himself and his construct. Drawing it back towards him.

A short distance away there’s an angry shout from his construct and he can all but feel the brute barrelling towards them.

Breaking off a chunk of the aether William pulverizes it between his hands, the dust clinging to both palms. Almost immediately the glorious pins and needles sensation begins as the aether sucks power from him, enough to do his bidding.

Crocker and the angel both have guns trained on him, but that won't matter soon enough. They should have shot the moment the bond was broken, because now, now he has the upper hand.

His brute breaks through the wall, going straight for Crocker, and because the angels a helpless sop he spins around to try and protect the beast.

Which is how William wins.

His hands slip across both the angel’s shoulders to hit his cheeks. The angel stills as power courses through him. “ _I think_ ,” William speaks in angelic, grinning when he sees Crocker double over in pain. “ _It’s time for you to come back to yourself, don’t you think cousin?_ ”

It’s barely the work of a second to shift that power, to give it a purpose. He lets go and steps away, laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will gladly accept your hate now, your denials will work as well, also your demands for answers.


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are probably going to hate me...

Duke feels terror ice his veins as William gets a hold of Nathan, the terror’s quickly turned into pain as William begins speaking in that same tongue Conli had when she was healing William and Audrey. It means William’s freaking bodyguard gets a good beating on him, and it feels like old times with Dwight again.

An angry shriek comes off from the side and second later the guy is _gone_ , Duke sneezes and coughs as dust coats him. He rolls over hacking and spitting to try and clear his throat.

Which gives him an excellent view of Nathan.

Those wings of his are back, and his eyes are a wide sheet of blue as they stare up at the ceiling unseeing. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.

Yet it just keeps coming.

He’s taller, his head nearly brushing the ten foot ceiling, his clothes have torn and Duke’s afraid his skin isn’t far behind. But not only that, Nathan’s glowing, growing brighter and brighter, bright enough that Duke has to squint. Then turn away eyes burning, he and Jennifer both unable to look at him any longer.

Audrey and James are both still out cold, and Duke has to wonder how he and Jennifer will be able to stop Nathan on their own.

Pain, the likes of which Duke’s never experienced before, rips through him as Nathan—in a voice that shakes the building and seems to happen more in Duke’s brain directly than going through his ears—says a word in that weird language. Meanwhile the light in the room keeps growing brighter and brighter, like someone dropped the sun into the middle of it.

Duke looks at Jennifer, an impressive feat in and of itself, whose eyes are wide with fear, drops blood dripping from her ears. Raising a hand Duke touches his own, it comes away wet with more than Jennifer’s lost. Her mouth opens, moves as if shaping words. But he doesn’t hear a thing.

He’s gone deaf, and he squeezes his eyes shut, finding himself praying desperately that this is something his healing can fix.

They...they need to regroup, get away. It aches to think it, but right now he’s not sure they _can_ do anything to help Nathan. He wants to hope that there’s a solution, that they can get out of this. But if Nathan’s turning back into an angel under the influence of William’s aether, well…

He manage to catch Jennifer’s eyes, and jerks his head off to where Audrey and James are. As he does so he sees Audrey twitch and Duke emphatically hopes she doesn’t wake up in the next few minutes. Because she’ll want to help, and it might get her killed.

Losing Nathan, _temporarily_ he forces himself to think, is about all Duke can take right now.

Jennifer nods, reminding him of what’s going on _now_. She begins moving and he turns slightly so that he can crawl along after her, doing his best to keep his head turned away from Nathan—not that it’s helping with the light at the moment, he’s got to squint even looking away from him. But as he does so he feels something shift in his pocket.

His rings, the ones he got from the fairy Queen.

He’d brought them on a sort of impulse, the Queen had said they’d be useful in the coming fight, but for the most part they’d just been rusting away in his jewelry box. Yet he’d still stopped to grab them and shove them into his pocket before heading out this morning.

_…perhaps in time you shall know them..._ the Queen’s words ring in his head, and...no time like the present right?

Shoving his hand into his pocket he pulls out the rings, squinting for a moment at their complex interweave, he blinks as he realizes they’re absorbing more of the light than they’re reflecting, making it all too easy to look at them. He stares at them for a second longer before, without any sort of thought behind it at all, slips all three on.

They’re cool against his skin, the weight of them far more comforting than he’d expected them to be. And already they’re...working?

Everything around him seems muted, but the most noticeable change is the fact that the light coming from Nathan has changed, from blinding white to a ruddy red. It makes it all more bearable to actually _see_. Looking around he also notices that everyone else has changed. The whole of them sharper, and somehow _more_.

Reaching out to where Audrey is his fingers brush up against one of the sparks coming off her and he’s treated to a memory of Nathan blushing and trying to hide it.

He’s not sure if it’s him, or her own body, but Audrey awakens only seconds later. She looks around, and he can tell the moment she spots Nathan because her eyes widen and she almost jackknifes upright. Jennifer, throwing off fewer ‘sparks’ than either Audrey or James, reaches her and they seem to hold a brief conversation.

One that ends with Jennifer starting to drag James out, and Audrey heading towards him. He meets her gaze and shakes his head, pointing after Jennifer.

Which only earns him narrowed eyes, and Audrey still approaching. When she reaches him she doesn’t bother trying to speak instead ‘talking’ to him in rudimentary sign language. ‘ _I’m not leaving you_. _’_ As if to prove her point she takes his hand, the one with the rings, and squeezes it.

Something like an electric jolt passes through him at the touch. And he can...feel her, her worry, determination to get Nathan back, love for him, for Nathan. It’s...bizarre, yet it doesn’t feel weird.

She can’t use sign language one handed, but something about her tells him what she wants—maybe it’s the rings—‘ _Come with me, we can save him,_ together _.’_

He goes.

The two of them march headfirst into the light. Audrey leading and him, still squinting, following behind. Closer and closer, until not even the rings can apparently augment Nathan’s shining light. But still Audrey goes on, undaunted. A singular streak of color—green—is the only sign that they might be getting close, Nathan himself is almost imperceptible from the light. It’s enough that Duke can’t tell if Nathan’s not throwing off any of those strange sparks, or if they blend in with the brightness.

Audrey’s other hand goes flying out, and contacts something. And like with Audrey something connects in Duke’s brain, but unlike with Audrey he doesn’t get a feel for what’s hopefully Nathan. Just an unending stream of alien _everything_. It’s almost too much, and Duke’s pretty sure he’s getting it filtered through Audrey.

Who blazes like her own star momentarily, determination overflowing. Again he hears her not-speak. Cajoling and enticing, tying her best to get _their_ Nathan back. But Duke has no idea if Nathan in his current state even realizes he and Audrey are _there_ , much less understand her.

Still she tries, and it’s enough that Duke feels sort of guilty for not doing anything himself.

His own hand shoots out, impacts something.

His body roars with pain, like every bad experience he’s ever had piled on top of each other and multiplied. The stream of alien turns into a river and Duke feels his own knees start to give out from the strain. Too much, it’s…

Yet something in him _resists_. Strengthened by things Duke cannot understand it refuses to give in and Duke finds himself clinging to it; he doesn’t have any other choice.

Now that he’s touching Nathan he feels something different in the torrent. Something softer, less _bright_.

He reaches for it, not with his hands, but with whatever power the rings have given him, at the same time Audrey...he doesn’t want to call it speaking. It doesn’t truly reflect the gravitas and magnitude of what comes out of her mouth. Duke closes his eyes against the flare of unnamable color that leaves Audrey, at the same time his ‘hand’ closes around that softer thing.

The brightness vanishes and he and Audrey find themselves on a beach, at night. He looks up to inspect the stars; it’s a night sky from a few months ago, the tail end of summer. In Haven even.

“Duke?” A shock passes through him as he _hears_ Audrey’s voice.

Turning to look at her he answers with another question. “What happened?”

She shoots him a bemused look. “Like I know.” Her eyes scan the area, searching for any hints. “We’re not alone,” she gestures with her free hand—Duke finds himself clinging to their joined hands tighter for a second—at the sand, where three sets of footprints make a path.

“Do we follow?” They’re still in Haven, and he does recognize the beach. He has no idea if they somehow time traveled or not, but he’d like to think there’s clearly something here for them to find.

Audrey studies them for a few seconds more before nodding, “yes.”

So the trace the trail, not that they’re in any worry of losing it—the tide’s going out at this hour, and the prints are high on the sand to begin with. Following its straight path towards a more sequestered part of the beach.

The light from the crackling fire reaches them before any details of what’s around it do. But soon familiar details start making themselves known to Duke. The corner of a worn flannel blanket, a sturdy blue cooler, metal stakes driven into the ground from when the three of them roasted marshmallows for s’mores. Duke stops, drawing Audrey up short. “We’ve been here before.”

“I know,” she draws closer to him. “Before the Barn.”

Duke had picked Audrey and Nathan up from their evening shift, truck laden with everything they’d need for the evening and night. He and Nathan had bickered about the best way to set up a fire while Audrey got into the beer. They’d all had too much fun shoving food in each other’s faces, intentionally missing so as to have a reason to touch the others, ‘cleaning up’ with lips and tongues. Duke singing softly with Nathan humming along as they lay on the blanket and watched the stars wheel above them. Coaxing Audrey to join them, her voice better than Duke thought it might be.

It’d been so damn perfect.

“But why are we here?” Audrey’s question pulls him from his reminiscence.

“I’m not sure,” he finds himself tugging her closer to the fire. More details of the scene revealing themselves the closer they get.

Like the fact that there was someone stretched out on the blanket, like how it’s _Nathan_. Whose head turned to look at them. Who smiles blazingly bright when he sees them. “There you are, I was half afraid some kraken had sprung up from the depths and taken the both of you.”

He and Audrey share a look, unsure of what to do.

“Well come on, I’m getting cold.” It’s so achingly Nathan it _hurts_ , worse even than just...moments?, before when Duke had reached out and touched Nathan’s angelic self.

“Not like you can tell,” It leaves Duke without him meaning too, the banter so damn easy and familiar to fall back on to.

The corners of Nathan’s eyes crinkle as he smiles again. “Well you could come cuddle and we can all find out, or you two could just stand there like statues.”

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Audrey shake her head, trying to dispel her tears he realizes. And she begins to step forward their joined hands pulling him along as well. They end on either side of Nathan, their hands resting about his pumping heart. “Nathan,” Duke _hates_ it when Audrey cries. “This, this isn’t real Nathan, you need to wake up, you need to come back to us.”

Nathan frowns, his head craning down slightly to look at the both of them. “Audrey, I know things have been stressful, but this _is_ real,” Nathan’s hand squeezes her shoulder. “It’s the Barn isn’t it? You’re worried about losing everything.”

She turns her head, eyes pleading with him. He squeezes his own shut. It’s so damn hard to to not just give in, to let this illusion, or whatever it might be, take them both. Return to what, for them, was a happier time. To just take it for goddamn once.

It would be so damn easy.

He has no idea how the three of them came to be here, or what might happen if they stay.

But in the real world he has no idea if _Nathan_ will live; if Conli was right and bringing forth Nathan’s angelic nature was bringing him closer to death than what would turning him back into an angel do? Would it then be better to just stay here? A world where Nathan wasn’t any closer to death than he’d been for the last hundred and fifty years?

Duke opens his eyes, the first thing he sees being Audrey. Who deserves her own happiness, without the worry of William, or her alien mother, or what her bond with Haven means now.

But could they live with that? Knowing that there was another reality, one where they were trying to save Nathan, save Haven, possibly even the world? Could they forget and throw themselves into this fantasy?

Something like a lead weight settles in his chest when he realizes, no, they couldn’t.

The gold ring grows icy cold and he discovers his claws have grow out. Across Nathan’s chest he and Audrey share a look. She nods. This might not work, but he somehow feels that it will.

“Okay, you’re both really starting to scare me here. What’s going on?” There’s a definite worry in Nathan’s voice, but if he and Audrey hesitate now, well he’s not certain they’ll have the strength to resist again.

He takes a deep breath as Audrey mouths ‘ _three, two_ ,’ he feels Nathan twitch as his claws pierce his shirt and touch skin.

_‘One,’_ with her weight behind his his claws dig deep hitting the sternum faster than expected. His head turns to look up, sees the betrayed expression on Nathan’s face.

“I’m sorry,” he manages to say, before the world goes white and black and black.

They they’re surrounded by rudy red light again, and excruciating pain. The soft thing in Nathan _explodes_ outward and Duke holds onto it like his life depends on it. The light pulses, once, twice, three times.

And then begins to spin inwards, Nathan drawing in the light just like he’d emitted it. It’s almost surreal to watch. Watch the empty room reveal itself again—if much more burnt than before—as things grow darker and darker—it’s strangely amusing to realize that Nathan blew out the actual light bulb.

As the light dies Nathan begins to change as well, his form shrinking to reclaim its previous shape.

Then the room’s only lit by Nathan’s wings, before they too fade away. Until all that remains of Nathan’s angelic side are those sheets of blue for eyes. Only they vanish when Nathan’s eyes flutter shut, his body collapsing onto the two of them.

They catch him, his and Audrey’s joined hands brushing his bare skin, the silver ring pulses like a heartbeat and Nathan takes in a shuddering breath.

But he doesn’t open his eyes.

Audrey finally removes her hand from his, the feel of her vanishing in his mind. “You take him to the hospital, get him checked out.”

Duke already knows the answer, but he needs to ask anyways, to be sure. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to kill William.”


	40. Chapter 40

The wind whips around her, snow trailing in her wake, as she storms down the streets of Haven.

Underneath her feet the icy asphalt trembles and shifts slightly, as if he anger has awakened Haven and it rises up to meet her. To help her. She feels unknown strength fill her, an awareness she’s never experienced before making her feel almost spread thin; yet because of it she knows where all _her_ townspeople are. Who’s a stranger and who isn’t. Who doesn’t belong.

 _William_.

Again Haven trembles, sharing in her anger. How dare he hurt the ones she loves most, who love _her_ most. How dare he think he _owns_ her _._

Her speed somehow picks up, the ground under her shifting feeling like the town is _rearranging_ itself to get her to him quicker. As she moves she reaches into her coat and pulls out her gun, checks the magazine to make sure it’s full and flicking off the safety. If she has her way this will be quick.

She finds him at the border of Haven and the Brambles. Lounging against a tree like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

Audrey’s never thought herself the type, but she finds herself raising her gun and firing, hitting him in the thigh; it won’t kill him, but it sure will hurt like hell.

He stumbles to the ground, his leg unwilling to support him anymore. “Bitch.” He snaps out.

Baring her teeth at him she steps closer, “that was for making Dwight hurt Duke.” She shoots him in the kneecap of the other leg, “and that’s for what you did to Nathan.” She’d almost _lost him_. An unconscionable thought. She moves to his shoulder. “That’s for killing _my son_.”

William screams in pain, and she takes no pleasure in it; if she could she would inflict upon him the pains of everyone he’s ever hurt in Haven. But a task like that would take centuries, and the longer William is alive the more time he’d figure out a way to escape. And that she would _not_ allow.

Using his good arm he tries to scramble away from her, but she follows easily, keeping her gun trained on him. “Wait,” he pants. “I, I can help you...save, the angel.”

“Nathan,” she snaps. “His name is Nathan.”

“Fine, fine. I can help you save him.” It does make her stop and reconsider her course of action. But only for a moment, because for all she knows this is another ploy.

“We don’t need your help,” just like at her mother’s home the ground trembles around them, trees shedding snow. “All your _help_ will bring is more suffering and pain.” She takes a deep breath. “No Guillaume,” the name echoes from some far corner of her mind and makes his eyes widen in shock. “I do not _need_ your help, nor will I take it. I, Audrey Parker, the Lar of Haven, pass judgement on you Guillaume. I will not stand your obsession or abuse any longer. Mara Desjardin is _dead_. You have no right to _me_.

“I find you guilty, and sentence you to death.” Without hesitation she raises her gun slightly and fires. Hitting him right in the forehead. He falls to the ground, dead. Yet she still moves her gun a hair and shots him again in the chest.

As Audrey stands over the body of William she can’t quite believe it’s over. That he’s really dead. A strange thing, considering she’d just committed the act with her own hands.

But that is overwhelmed by her weariness, she just wants to go home and rest. To be surrounded by warmth and love. To finally have some peace. Or at least as much peace as one can get in Haven. A soft sound leaves her.

That weariness roars away, another rush of adrenaline filling her when she hears footsteps behind her. Whirling around she raises her gun, ready to fire if she’s attacked; but she’s only got one bullet left, she’ll have to make it count.

It’s a woman she doesn’t recognize. Her skin is an ocher color, complementing golden eyes. Her clothes are all a bloody red that matches her short cropped hair, which reveal ears nearly bursting with gold piercings.

Audrey might never have seen this woman before, but she can guess who it is.

War.

“What do you want?” This is William’s...parent after all. For all Audrey knows she’ll want revenge.

War ignores her for a moment, walking past her towards William’s prone body; Audrey turning with her, gun still trained on her shoulder. She hunches down and reaching out cups his cheek. “You never learned did you?” She sighs and stands. A small smile graces her face when she finally seems to see Audrey’s stance.

“I’m not going to hurt you niece. He may have been my son, but all of children know that I will not save them from their own failures. William’s actions were his own and he had to deal with the consequences.” Her posture is relaxed, and Audrey finds herself realizing that all the gun is probably doing is comforting Audrey. It took sap, and her own blood, from the tree of life to hurt Conli; a bullet is hardly likely to hurt War.

Holstering her gun Audrey rolls her shoulders to try and relieve the tension in them. “You could have stopped him,” it’s not quite an accusation.

War shrugs. “And curb his scope of vision?” Bright teeth flash for a second. “Oh Audrey, you misunderstand my thoughts. I saw nothing wrong with his desire to replace God. I think it delightful that he had such grand designs, foolish as they might have been. No, I find fault with his emotions, his burning assumption that he needed _your_ help to accomplish his goals. _That_ is where he failed. It is where most of my children fail.” She takes a step forward and Audrey stands her ground.

But honestly, how is Audrey supposed to respond to that? But perhaps it just drives home the fact that she’ll never understand her ‘family’, that she doesn’t exactly want to. “So why are you here?”

“So direct,” War sounds pleased. “So much like your sister. I came to claim his body, I dare say you would prefer not to deal with it. So I will take him to my home and bury him, as I have done with countless children.”

“And that’s it?” Conli is the one who can bring people back to life, but Audrey’s still suspicious enough that she thinks War might have some other plan up her sleeve.

War turns around, crouches again, and scoops up William. “Why would I try to bring him back?” On the whole Audrey’s too mentally exhausted to wonder how War knew that was her thought exactly. “He was a failure, and I have no reason to attempt to resurrect him. His is not the first child of mine to be killed for one reason or another and he will hardly be the last.

“So you will see nothing of him anymore Audrey Parker. You have earned your rest,” War turns back around once more, a large smile on her face. “I dare say you should take it. May you have peace,” Audrey finds she can’t help but laugh at that.

Luckily it doesn’t seem to offend War, who only inclines her head before walking off. Leaving Audrey laughing in the clearing.

Alone now Audrey finds her legs can’t support her own weight anymore and she falls to the snowy ground, still laughing. She lays there for longer than she’d care to think, the fact that she _can_ lay there enough reason to do it. But eventually the cold begins to seep in, reminding her that she’s not an invincible town, she’s a woman.

With a groan—because her...aunt is right, she deserves to rest—she sits upright, her body aching even if she hadn’t done much in the way of fighting. Then again it could just be mental exhaustion from what she and Duke had to do to get Nathan back…

That memory sparks a burning urge in her, one that gets her standing up and running back to town. She needs to get to the hospital, needs to know that Nathan’s okay, that he’s not dying. This time she doesn’t think there’ll be a Conli to help him if he is. Part of her holds that against Conli, the rest doesn’t give a fuck at the moment.

Back in Haven proper the streets don’t seem to tremble under her feet anymore, she does however get the shifting sensation that things are moving when she’s not looking. She keeps her gaze dead center to try and ward off vertigo, she doesn’t want to be stopped by anything right now.

She races up the steps of the hospital and practically bursts through the door.

There is the urge to just barrel on, but if she doesn’t stop and _think_ for a few seconds she’ll just be wandering aimlessly.

“Audrey!” She whips around to see Jennifer waving at her from a nearby hallway. “Over here.”

Hurrying over Audrey surprises the both of them by sweeping her into a hug. “I’m glad you’re alright,” out of all of them Jennifer might have been the least injured, but that doesn’t change how Audrey feels. For a second she buries her face in Jennifer’s hair, just happy to be held.

Even if she’d been caught off guard Jennifer returns the hug eagerly. “Yeah, James is okay too, even if he’s got a goose egg on his chin.” Jennifer huffs and Audrey finds a smile pull at her mouth. “Duke’s hearing is coming back in fits and starts, so don’t be surprised if he starts shouting ‘what’ like an old man.”

The words draw a laugh from her, and she pulls away from Jennifer, feeling better. But the urge in her demands she asks. “And Nathan?”

“He,” Jennifer shifts, clearly not wanting to tell her. “He’s stable, but hasn’t regained consciousness yet. James took out the aether and healed him some though, so...yeah.” Jennifer shifts again.

Audrey thinks she’s expecting shouting, or some sort of negative response, but Audrey’s whole focus is on Nathan. “Take me to him.”

They walk down a few more halls, before Jennifer points at a door. James is sprawled out on some chairs nearby and Audrey brushes a hand through his hair as she passes. He gives a small start, but doesn’t say anything as she goes into the room.

And there’s Nathan.

He’s not on a respirator, but there is an IV hooked up to his arm, and just faintly she can see the rise and fall of his chest. She goes to him, taking his chilly hand between her own. “Nathan,” her voice cracks.

The creak of a chair sounds behind her and seconds later warm arms wrap around her waist. “Audrey, you’re here,” the relief in Duke’s voice is hard to miss. Doing her best to keep her hands on Nathan she turns to face Duke.

“William’s dead,” the flatness of her own voice is unsurprising, but not exactly welcome. “I shot him Duke I,” she tries to fight the tears—because out of everyone William is the least deserving of them—but they come anyways.

Duke’s arms tighten around her, and he leans down to nose at her hair while she buries her face in his shoulder. “I’ve got you. It’s over now,” one of his hands rubs up and down her her back. And while it’s a lie that it’s over she still appreciates it. “Nathan’ll be fine Audrey, he’s just exhausted.”

“That makes two of us,” it comes out shaky and with a weak laugh. She nearly yelps when Duke scoops her up, her body sagging in to him briefly before he starts to lay her down in the bed next to Nathan.

“Made sure it was a big enough bed for the three of us,” another weak laugh leaves her, only Duke. But his forethought is paying off now as she curls against Nathan’s side and Duke moves around to Nathan’s other side.

She rests her head on Nathan’s chest, comforted by the beating of his heart, how steady and normal it sounds. One of Duke’s arms comes around and settles against her, tugging her briefly so that she is more laying on top of Nathan. “Nurses won’t be happy,” she finds herself saying quietly, the similarities of this scene and the memory they’d been in earlier making her blink back tears again.

“They’re just gonna have live with it.” He murmurs, his face pressing against Nathan’s briefly. “Do you think maybe a kiss would wake him up?”

Duke’s unexpected optimism brings an actual smile to her face. “I don’t think fairy tales happen in real life Duke.” Much as it pains her to say.

He sighs, then shifts down slightly. “Well we _do_ live next to fairies, so really true love’s kiss isn’t _that_ far fetched.” Alright, he does have a point there. But while Audrey’s hopeful she finds herself wanting to shy away from such fanciful things, she hasn’t believed in fairy tales in a long time, and to try and do so now seems the height of whimsy and nonsense. Yet this is _Nathan_ , who better to give into such notions for? And would it really hurt to try? She knows she loves the both of them with all her heart, and with more fierceness than she’d ever expected, who was to say that wasn’t true love?

“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Duke’s smile makes her believe. And together they move up; it takes a bit of maneuvering to get them in the position where they can both kiss Nathan at the same time—the whole act of which makes her feel ridiculous again.

But there is something comforting about it as well. As she and Duke descend she finds herself holding her breath, hoping so much she’s surprised she doesn’t explode from it.

Nathan’s lips feel as rough as always, but they’re warm and real.

And for the briefest of heartbeats Nathan pushes back.

Without thought Audrey finds herself recoiling in shock, knocking Duke’s face away. The heart monitor picks up slightly, and as she watches she sees Nathan’s eyes roll behind his eyelids.

But he doesn’t wake up.

She lets Duke pull her back down. And again the beat of Nathan’s heart soothes her. Making her realizes that even if he’s not awake-awake Nathan’s state still changed. He’s more ‘awake’ than he was before. And right now she’ll take it.

-

He feels stretched thin, as if the tiniest movement will rip him apart at unknown seams. He’s surrounded by warmth and the sounds of a hospital. A, dare he call it dainty?, snore reaches his ears making him realize it’s not just his body that feels stretched thin.

He finds himself slipping back into sleep, grateful that he’s safe.

When the world starts to seep in again it’s to low voices and an unknown repeating _fwip_ sound. A groan leaves him, it’s all he can muster up the energy to do, even opening his eyes right now feels like too much.

The _fwipping_ sound stops and he can feel many somethings being laid on his chest. “Nathan?” Audrey and Duke’s voice choruses.

He answers with another groan, just like opening his eyes speech is beyond him at the moment. Something like soft laughter reaches his ears and two pairs of lips brush his cheeks. “Go back to sleep Nathan.” Audrey’s voice is warm and full of love.

There might be a smile on his face as he does as she says.

Like many things the third time seems to be the charm for Nathan. Peeling his eyes open he looks down to see Duke and Audrey curled around him, their heads on his chest, the both of them still asleep. He doesn’t even care, they’re here, with him.

His mind struggles to remember what happened to him, a fact that indicates pretty well what happened. He’d had his angelic nature pulled forward again. Both Audrey and Duke make sleepy protests and he loosens his hold on them.

But those few seconds are enough to wake up Audrey, who rubs at her eyes or a moment before stilling. “Nathan!” He’s not sure what she does can actually be called pouncing, considering she barely moves, but that’s what it feels like.

Which wakes Duke up, and the same action gets repeated. “Gods Nate, we…” Duke buries his face in Nathan’s hair, probably to keep himself from ruining the moment with bad things.

“Told you,” Nathan’s throat hurts and feels like it’s been scrubbed with sandpaper, his voice echoes that. “I’ll always come back, for the both of you.”

It earns him smiles and tears. “You sap,” but Audrey’s voice holds no heat.

Duke just gives a fond sigh. Pressing himself closer than is probably publically decent. Not that Nathan can even work up the urge to care. He never wants to let them go again, wants this to last for as long as possible.

At least until his stomach growls, thoroughly ruining _everything_.

Both of them laugh and Nathan can’t even get up a good glower. “I guess breakfast is in order for all of us.” Duke starts to pull away, but Nathan pulls him closer.

“Don’ go.” He scratchy voice at least makes him sound more pitiful.

“Not even for pancakes?” Oh that’s _mean_.

But Nathan’s stomach growls again, a different sort of ache—one that implies it’s been quite some time since he last ate—filling him.

“Okay,” Audrey pulls away from him, reluctantly he lets her. “Executive decision here, _I’m_ going to get breakfast, make your choices known now or forever hold your peace.” He and Duke share a look and roll their eyes, she knows full well what they want. Nathan quickly gets distracted by Audrey leaning back in to give them both kisses. “Don’t burn down the hospital while I’m gone.”

Again he and Duke share a look, wondering if either should tell her about ‘32 or not. But then Audrey’s gone and it’s a moot point.

After a few more seconds of silence pass Duke shifts around, trying to reach something from the looks of it. “Ah ha!” Duke pulls out a pair of noisemakers and a crumpled green cardboard cone. Nathan finds himself narrowing his eyes, at least he can do _that_.

“What are those for?” Granted as items go they’re pretty pedestrian, it’s not like they could do much harm; but that doesn’t change Nathan’s suspicions.

“It’s Audrey’s birthday, well,” Duke prevaricates. “It was her birthday yesterday. But still. We should do at least a _little_ celebrating.” He sticks one of the noisemakers in Nathan’s mouth and pulls out his phone.

“You’d better not take a picture,” Nathan’s torn between trying to glare and feeling a little bad that he’d been out of it for Audrey’s birthday; on the other hand she’d probably forgotten about it herself, he sure had—although they all had good reason too considering.

Duke snorts. “I’m texting James to remind him to bring cupcakes when they stop by. Do you think they’d let us light candles?” Nathan’s sure that even if they don’t, Duke will still insist on lighting them.

Nathan wishes he could do more to help, but he’s sort of stuck here. If it weren’t for Duke’s presence he’d probably be cranky. As it is he’s still vaguely annoyed. “Okay,” Duke says. “We blow our noisemakers when she gets back and then sing happy birthday, then she gets her hat,” he does his best to uncrumple the cone, so _that’s_ what it was. “Then we all settle down for a nice breakfast, Jennifer and James’ll swing by later with cupcakes. And if she asks we’ll just tell Audrey that all her gifts are not hospital appropriate. Because I sure as hell don’t have one.”

Laughter escapes Nathan, it hurts a little, but he’s okay with it. “She might kill us,” Audrey hasn’t exactly said she _dislikes_ surprises, but at least previous hers had never been fond of them.

“Please, she loves us too much, maybe for your birthday the docs’ll discharge you.”

Nathan huffs. “I’d like to think I’d get out before then. And it’s not really my birthday anyways.”  It had just been an arbitrary day he’d picked on the spot when Constance had asked him about it. It wasn’t as if he’d ever really _celebrated_ it. “And does this mean you won’t get pissy if we do something for _your_ birthday?”

Duke opens his mouth to respond, then closes it, his attention shifting elsewhere. “She’s coming,” Duke picks up the noisemaker form where it’d fallen and put it back in Nathan’s mouth, putting the other in his own. Nathan can practically track where Audrey is by where Duke’s eyes are.

“I didn’t actually agree to this,” Nathan mutters. But he has to admit doing something so shamelessly ridiculous is sort of appealing. With all the panic, stress, and hardship behind them they could use some moments of levity. So when he sees the doorknob begin to turn he takes a deep breath, bracing himself.

“Okay,” Audrey says as she steps in, a bag from Haven Joe’s in her hands.

Not that she gets any further than that before he and Duke are blowing their noisemakers. “Happy birthday,” they both call out seconds later. Nathan even lets Duke lead him into singing, even if he’s only okay at it.

Audrey’s expression turns from shocked—they should be glad she didn’t drop their food—to exasperated affection. “Really?” She says when Duke holds out the hat and gives it a little shake.

“Aww come on birthday girl, have some fun.” Duke cajoles, expression pouty.

“Belated birthday,” Audrey reminds, but she still steps up, setting the bag down at her feet and taking the hat. It looks utterly out of place on her, but Nathan’s sure that’s part of the point. “Y’all should be grateful I love you both enough to still give you your food.”

“Do I get points if I say I did it under protest?” Nathan pipes up.

Audrey laughs. While Duke pinches him. “Traitor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more...


	41. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma let you finish reading, but first some thanks.
> 
> First to Lisa, because without her I would never have gotten into the fandom.
> 
> To my Tumblr cheerleaders: Lisa, Ivy, Kat, and Gray. Y'all are the best.
> 
> And to SerendipityXIII, who's been an awesome writing buddy, without her help I might still be stuck in this story and nowhere near finished.
> 
> Last, but certainly not least. To all of my awesome reviewers and readers. Thanks for supporting this romp.

Nathan’s torn between letting the slight rocking of the _Rouge_ lure him back into full sleep or actually answering the alarm on his phone and wake up. His body still aches—not that this hasn’t been the story of his life for the past two weeks—which pulls him towards the former, but the alarm is because he and Audrey have their first day back at the station; something that will feels wondrously small after everything. And for once Audrey’s and Duke’s insistence that he stay in bed won’t hold any weight, he’s going to work and that’s that.

Audrey acts for him, rolling on top of him and fumbling around for his phone, hitting the snooze button. She groans and rolls off him. His laugh is a sleepy one, “morning?” His voice still hasn’t quite recovered, but he can at least talk normally; and since he’s talking he might as well get up.

“Not so sure, think I could sleep for a whole year.” He can commiserate. But she’s sitting upright too.

Which is about when both of them realize that Duke isn’t in bed with them. Now that they know it’s over and William’s dead it’s not outright panic, but Audrey’s expression mirrors the fear Nathan feels. Together they practically jump out of bed and, uncaring that they’re basically naked, rush out of the bedroom. He’s sure if he could feel them his bones would be protesting.

Duke isn’t in the stateroom proper and they move through it towards the hallway that leads up on deck.

They burst through the door, drawing themselves to a halt in the shadow of the wheelhouse walkway when they see Duke in the middle of the deck, arms stretched above him for a moment before they, and his whole torso, begin to tilt towards the ground until his palms lay flat on the floor.

Yoga, Duke’s doing yoga.

Audrey crumples against him in relief, causing him to stumble and bang his shoulder on the nearest wall. He hisses in pain, and at the cold air biting into his bones, and Duke whirls on the both of them. “Shit,” he says taking in their appearance. “Didn’t realize it was this late.”

He goes to them, taking them both into an embrace, his cheek brushing against Nathan’s before it shifts down to rub the top of Audrey’s hair. “Didn’t mean for you to panic.”

“Think that’s something we’re going to have to deal with for a while,” Audrey responds.

Nathan only manages a nod in response. They’re all alive and safe; but that doesn't change what they’ve been through. “Come on,” Nathan final manages to get out. “Let’s have breakfast.” Food should help settle them all, food and good coffee, and just being around each other.

It works better than Nathan could have hoped, in his case at least. Everything about him feeling more settled and calm. And as he and Audrey step off the _Rouge_ to go to work Duke promises them that he’ll stop by with lunch, and text them.

At the station they’re given a warm welcome, there are even cupcakes that spell out _welcome back!_ in bright green frosting. He’s pretty sure he’s smiling while Audrey laughs. But he knows he is a few seconds later, because he can feel one of Audrey’s fingers brush his cheek when she tries to shove a cupcake in his face.

Everyone laughs, but Nathan’s just glad she doesn’t try again. And doubly grateful that she failed to actually _get_ him with the cupcake when Garland steps out of his office. “Nathan, a moment.”

Audrey’s fingers tangle with his and squeeze. “I’ll save you a cupcake.” She tells him before pulling away to go mingle with their co-workers.

So he steps into Garland’s office, confused then the other man shuts the door before taking a seat at his desk. “I wanted you to know this before I announced it to the station. I’m going to be retiring in a few weeks.”

“What?!”

“I’m old Nathan, and the past few months certainly haven’t been good to me stress wise.” Nathan knows, there are new lines on the chief’s face, the whole of him looking more worn down. Actually now that he thinks about it he finds himself surprised that Garland’s control has been as good as it’s been, half of Haven should have been in pieces before now. “So I’m gonna retire while I still can. And I’m going to suggest to the council that you replace me as chief.”

Nathan opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Well a strange strangled sound of protest does, but no actual words.

A grin pulls at Garland’s mouth. “I know, you’ve promised never to be chief while you’re here in Haven, but I can’t think if anyone better suited to handle the job than you. And anyways, you’re probably about the only person in Haven who has a chance of outliving the town, certainly’d come in handy.” Garland stands and Nathan can only watch, still stunned, as he comes around his desk and reaches out to pat Nathan on the shoulder. “You’ll do better at the job than you think, and you’ll have Audrey to help.”

Right, right. This isn’t like before, he’s got Audrey, and Duke, and his son and Jennifer, a whole host of people he can reach out to. But still, the idea of being chief staggers him in an unexpected way. When he’d come to Haven he’d chosen to join the police, telling the then chief that so long as he was in Haven he wouldn’t try for the position. Because he was still immortal, and the people of Haven needed someone more like them to watch out for them.

“I,” he finally manages to get out. “I don’t know what to say.” It seems to be a theme of the day for him.

Garland pats his shoulder again, or at least that’s what Nathan thinks he does based on what he can see from the corner of his eye. “Like I said, you’ll do better than you think you can. I’ve got faith. Now what’s this I hear about cupcakes?”

-

In a way Audrey’s grateful to be back at work, the mundanity of it grounding her and reminding her of what’s important.

Which doesn’t mean that when Nathan walks in, shell shocked expression on his face, she doesn’t abandon her work to go to him. “What happened? What did the chief say?” He had to have said _something_ massive to get such a look from Nathan, and she has half a mind to go to him and give him a talk about being so hard on Nathan. Especially after what William put him through.

Stumbling Nathan falls onto the couch, his face buried in one of the pillows for a second before he turns it to look at her, she crouches down so that they can look each other in the eye. “He wants to make me chief of police when he retires next month.”

“That’s great Nathan!” Leaning in slightly she gives him a one arm hug. “You deserve it.” She means it too, he cares about Haven, just as much as she and Duke do. She knows he’ll do what’s in it’s best interest. They’re still not sure if he’s actually dying or not, but he’s earned this and should have it for as long as he can.

Her smile turns to a frown when he buries his face in the pillow again for a few seconds. “You’re...not happy with this?” She would have thought him, well not ecstatic, but certainly somewhat pleased. Garland retiring is sad, and she’s only known him for ten months. She can’t imagine what it might be like for Nathan who’s known him decades.

“I,” he sighs, leaning his head more towards her. “I promised that when I joined the police force I wouldn’t try to become the chief, because I’m immortal. The people of Haven should have someone like them to look out after them.”

He does have a point, she sees. Having someone who could be chief in perpetuity would seem very...dystopian. The sort that people would fear to become themselves. “Well just because they ask doesn’t mean you have to say yes Nathan,” she points out. “And it’s not like you would have to be chief forever. Maybe in a decade or two someone who’s better for the job will make themselves known and you can step down.

“But don’t let your fear stop you Nathan, you _love_ Haven,” she’d almost say as much as he loves her and Duke. “And everyone in town knows it. They know you’ll do your best to serve the town.” Leaning in again she kisses his cheek. “So think about it before you turn it out of hand alright?”

“Alright,” he answers. After a few seconds he starts to get up and she lets him, moving back towards her own desk.

She pulls a napkin off of the cupcakes she’d saved. “ _One_ of those is for you,” she warns. Narrowing her eyes at him playfully.

He snorts and reaches out to take on. “I’m not sure Duke deserves a cupcake. He doesn’t actually work here.” With painstaking care he peels off the wrapper, throwing it away before taking a seat at his own desk.

“He definitely deserves one, he puts up with us and our work schedule.” Or at least he will now; Haven might be a ‘quiet’ sort of town, but with the supernatural living as openly as they do, well there’s bound to be some late hours. “That’s half a job in and of itself.” Nathan snorts before biting into his cupcake, she can’t help but grin when she sees he’s gotten frosting on his nose.

She really should tell him now, but well, he hasn’t finished his cupcake. What if it happens again? So she’ll wait, and enjoy his confused faces when he sees her grinning.

-

Jennifer scans the classifieds of the _Herald_ and is grateful that at least here people still do most of their advertising for apartments the old fashioned way. Now that things are starting to calm down she needs an actual _plan_ , other than just coasting by.

So an apartment, and a job.

Usually she knows the latter should come first to help pay for the former, but a few days ago she’d gotten a cheerful letter from Haven’s bank congratulating her on her new accounts, plus a debit card and a stack of checks.

Of course she hadn’t gone to open up an account. She’d been sort of angry after she first read it, because she didn’t _need_ charity. But she’d found herself mollified when James had gotten the exact same packet. And when the both of them had confronted Duke about it he’d told them to consider it super early Christmas gifts from himself and Nathan.

So she’s accepted it, if only because she knows they mean well, and that they’re not likely to do it again unless she asks for money explicitly. It’s also sort of nice to know that she doesn’t have to count on a paycheck for a while if she doesn’t want to.

But she knows she won’t be able to stay idle for long.

“Any luck?” Claire’s voice pulls her away from her staring, her thoughts so focused elsewhere that she hasn’t really been reading.

She shrugs. “So so,” it’s been weeks now, you’d think she’d have found at least _something_. But today at least there have been some potential places. “Not a lot of apartments to rent here in Haven apparently.”

Claire smiles as she goes to to coffee maker. “Well I’m sure you’ll find something. But any more thoughts on my job suggestions?” She raises a cup to ask if Jennifer wants any and Jennifer shakes her head. “I know it might be daunting, but it’d be good to just throw yourself headfirst into that sort of thing.”

Well Claire has one thing right, her main suggestion of a job possibility _is_ sort of daunting. _Blogging_ , it just seems...weird to Jennifer. To her news should be in print, not on a screen. On the other hand she finds herself loving the internet, how one has everything one could imagine at their fingertips. Of course then the question becomes how does she make herself stand out?

“Not really,” she admits. “Well, not beyond general freaking out.”

Claire laughs. “It’s totally alright Jennifer, you’ve got all the time you could want.”

Yes, yes she does.

-

James sits in Rosemary’s cafe, a thin folder in front of him, yet it’s far thicker than he expected. And in fact he’s surprised the PI was able to find anything at all. He hasn’t quite worked up the courage to _look_ at it yet, in a way having it is enough for now.

“Mind if I join you?” Nathan’s voice cuts through his tangle of nerves, he looks up to see his dad standing there, still looking a little worse for wear, but clearly better than before.

“Yeah,” James says quickly, part of him wanting to get Nathan off his feet as soon as possible—they’re all a little fussy over him now. “How’re you?” They’ve seen each other off and on since Audrey’s impromptu birthday party, but for the most part he and Jennifer have been on their own. Then again he’d probably be better off not knowing what his parents and Duke had gotten up to in those two weeks.

Nathan sets his coffee down and sits. “Better.” He shrugs. “Not that it hasn’t stopped everyone from worrying,” his expression suggests that he knows James is in on it too, but hey, James doesn’t feel bad about that at _all_. He knows exactly what sort of shape Nathan had been in when Duke had brought him to the hospital, bad enough that, despite his own injuries, he’d insisted on healing Nathan, enough at least to help stabilize him. Nathan’s eyes flick to the file. “What’s that?”

James fiddle with it, spinning it around and around on the table. “I, hired a PI to try and find my fiancee...this is what she found.” The PI had even explicitly mentioned a phone number when he’d met up with her, but James is conflicted on whether or not he should even _call_ the number.

“Ah,” Nathan doesn’t pry further than that, for which James is grateful; for now he wants to keep this...he doesn’t even know what exactly to call it, to himself. A few seconds pass, then, James finds himself amused to note, Nathan starts fiddling with his to go cup. “So, I..have an offer for you, if you’re interested.”

Intrigued James sits up a little straighter. “What is it?” At least this time they’re not springing it on him like the bank account—then again it had pushed him to hire a PI, whether that would be a good thing or not has yet to be determined.

Nathan picks up his cup and takes a drink. “Well, Chief Wuornos will be retiring in a few weeks, and he’s going to make the suggestion that I become chief after him.” Nathan’s ears pinken. “Audrey thinks I should accept. And If I do, well the department’ll need a new detective.”

The whole of it takes James a few seconds to process. “Are you, hiring me?” Despite the work he and Lucy did together he’d never thought himself police material, all of his studies in college had been in history and education. Yet he doesn’t find the idea as abhorrent as he thought he might.

“Well technically I _can’t_ , not yet at least. But yeah,” Nathan gives him a small sort of smile. “I am, you and Lucy helped a lot of people, and if you want to keep doing that, this is a way you can.”

He does, although he’d never thought he’d do it as a cop. “Shouldn’t you be thinking of promoting one of the cops instead of hiring me?” He wants to help, but that’s hard to do when you’re ruffling feathers along the way.

Nathan’s smile grows a little more and leans in. James does the same, feeling a bit like kids about to share a big secret—the fact that this is his _father_ , hardly changes things. “Don’t usually tell this to people, but the detectives are the ones who get the supernatural cases more often than not, anyone we hire gets pretty quickly whether they’re cut out for that sort work or not.” He shrugs. “So you’re not likely to get enemies that way at least.”

“Oh. I’ll accept your not quite an offer then,” he grins. From high school teacher to supernatural detective, it almost sounds like one of those shows he and Arla used to watch. The thought brings him down a little.

But Nathan’s smile draws another one out of him. “Great, I’ll, uh, get in touch with you in a few weeks then.” He stands and for a brief second looks like he might go in to try and hug James, then stops himself.

James however quickly finds himself standing and initiating the hug himself. “Thanks dad,” he’s not sure he’ll ever tire of saying that. Nathan returns the hug wholeheartedly, there’s even a slap on the back and James finds his grin back on his face as they pull apart. “Talk to you soon?”

“Definitely,” Nathan responds. “And good luck with,” he gestures at the file, which turns James grin into one of bemusement.

“Thanks.”

His dad walks off and James is left once again with the file.

After a few minute of going around in circles in his head he finally pulls out his cell. Then before he can talk himself out of it he flips open the file. Trying not to read anything while looking for the phone number.

Nervously he begins dialing the number once he’s found it. While the PI said it was her current number James doesn’t know if the woman is right or not, so dialing is almost an act of faith.

The line rings, and rings, and rings. Until it clicks over to voicemail. James lets himself feel both disappointment and relief that she didn’t answer. Yet he finds the tension in him ratcheting up when he hears her voice.

“ _You’ve reached the voicemail of Arla Hamel,_ ” his throat closes up, unwanted hope rising up when he hears her say her maiden name. _“I’m not able to pick up the phone right now, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible._ ” The tone sounds, and for a moment James is at a loss for words.

At least until they all come spilling out. “Hi Arla, I, I know you probably thought you’d never hear from me again. And. I’m sorry that I just left you like that and just vanished off the face of the earth for twenty seven years.” Something like guilt tangles in his stomach, but he presses on.

“I’m not trying to make problems for you, if you’ve moved on and never want to hear from me again, I can do that. But I thought you deserved to know that I’m still alive. I did mean to contact you after I’d found my mom, but well...Haven has a habit of sucking you in and making the rest of the world sort of fade away. That’s where I am still, Haven Maine. It’s a long story, longer than-” a beep of the recording ending cuts him off.

He could call again he knows, but what more could he say? Telling her he still loved her felt too much like manipulation for his tastes. And she would already have everything she needed to know if she wanted to get in touch with him.

So he puts his phone away, he’s just going to have to have some patience and trust. And if in a few weeks she hasn’t responded? Well that’s answer enough for him.

-

With Christmas just around the corner things in Haven pick up a bit. People bustling to and fro getting gifts, calling in orders for food, or seeing if the Gull has any spots left at it’s one Christmas Eve dinner.

All three of which have Duke in a rush, trying to get gifts for a much grown Christmas list, wondering—although mostly half-heartedly—whether this year Rosemary’s joking about trying to put him out of business so she’ll get more orders for dinner rolls, and dealing with people who think they deserve to be on an already bursting full list—having seemed to forgotten the meaning of the word ‘no’.

So it’s a little stressful, but comparatively it’s a cakewalk, and at least on the Gull front he’s not the only person dealing with customers now; why didn’t he think of hiring general managers earlier?

And over the next few days he falls into a nice sort of pattern. Even with Audrey’s insistence that they no go _full_ Christmas—an almost impossible idea even for Duke to contemplate—he still had things to look forward too.

A, for once, big family dinner, exchanging presents, but most of all sharing the holiday with people he loved.

Which is completely worth Rosemary’s playful glares every time he sees her.

-

Audrey’s never felt butterflies before a date before, so right now, it’s a completely novel experience and she’s not sure it’s one she enjoys.

Yes, she’s been on dates with Nathan and Duke, sometimes even together. But this is their first real date since the whole William thing really started picking up—the two weeks of light, Nathan had still be recovering after all, debauchery on the _Rouge_ didn’t count as a date.

And unlike most of their other dates this one is supposed to be _nice_. Going out of town to a restaurant that had white tablecloths and _candles_ nice; hell she’d gotten flowers for Nathan, she glances over at the small bouquet of Henri’s ‘hothouse’ flowers for the nth time, just to make sure they still looked fresh; for once dressing up was _required_.

Which had meant she and Claire, Kat, and Jennifer had driven to Bangor to shop; another wholly new experience for Audrey. One she’d actually sort of enjoyed, even if listening to Claire and Kat tell Jennifer about the nuances of modern makeup and then fighting off their attempts to expand Audrey’s own horizons had been more than she bargained for.

She checks her reflection again, those dratted butterflies making her second guess how good she looks. Closing her eyes she takes a few deep breaths, and her still bare feet whisper against the worn wood floor as she turns away from her mirror.

When she opens her eyes she finds herself staring at the seascape Nathan had painted moths ago and given to her because he asked. The light breeziness of it _does_ help calm her, even if it does remind her that it’s still winter outside and standing on the beach now would only result in freezing bodies and salt everywhere from the wind.

Her phone goes off, reminding her that it’s almost time to head downstairs. Pulling her nice, new coat—all the girls had insisted that while yes, the jackets she had might be warm, but they were not suitable for going out on dates—on she went to the door where her new heels, and the flowers, were; the heels were her most dubious purchase considering the snow and ice, yet she’d been assured they made her legs look fantastic and that if she slipped she’d have _two_ men to catch her.

Still she takes the stairs down to the Gull with more care than she usually does.

Inside it’s all but dead, but also toasty warm, so Audrey really doesn’t care about the former. Duke’s behind the counter, and she finds herself biting back a smile because Duke complains about her and Nathan being workaholics. But he soon turns his attention to her.

“Wow,” his eyes seem to glow as she takes a seat at the bar, laying the flowers on it. “Hope I get to see what’s under that coat, although you can’t possibly get more amazing than you already are.”

Her cheeks turn red even as she laughs. “Look at you Crocker, pulling out all the stops.” She teases but it’s clearly true, and not just in his flirting. His hair’s been pulled back into a nice ponytail, he’d trimmed his goatee, his clothes didn’t even look worn at all—her laughter continues for a few extra seconds at the thought of Nathan and Duke shopping just as much as she had.

He grins back. “Well I do try when the occasion calls for it.” He ducks under the counter briefly, popping back up again with a blue bottle in his hands.

Not that she pays much attention, what with Nathan walking through the door.

It’s not quite the showstopper that his Founder’s Day clothes had been, but that suit looks damn fine on him. He smiles as he reaches them. “Hope I’m not late.”

“Just in time,” Duke reassures, and Audrey turns her head when she hears something being poured.

“I wouldn’t think we’d need liquid courage before we go,” she smiles at him. Granted there’s still a bundle of nerves in her stomach, so she thinks she wouldn’t exactly turn it down.

Duke gives an enigmatic smile as he pushes the tumble towards her, the silvery liquid inside like nothing she’s ever seen before. “Not exactly liquid courage,” he finally says. “More like something long overdue.”

She arches an eyebrow at him, turning to Nathan wondering if he’s likely to give her a better answer.

“Try it,” he gives her an encouraging smile. “If you don’t like it I’m sure we can find something else to wash the taste out.” As soon as the words leave his mouth his ears pinking, and Duke sniggers at the unintended meaning.

Shaking her head at the both of them she picks the glass up. Swirling the liquid around for a second, watching the way the lights above play off it. Biting the bullet she raises it up to her mouth and drinks.

It’s...much like it’s appearance it’s like nothing she’s ever tasted. Words, at least the expected ones, can’t really describe the experience of drinking it, or even what it tastes like.

“Well?” Nathan offers her a hand off the barstool as she sets the sets the glass back down. “How’d it taste?”

She takes his hand, sliding off the stool with more grace than she feels she has the right to have. Duke comes from around the bar, offering his elbow which she also takes. Arm in arm they head towards the front door, she doesn’t even care that she’d forgotten the flowers. She does her best to answer Nathan’s question.

“It tasted like hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *lets out a big breath* And it's done. Of course, this isn't the end.
> 
> But please, don't forget to subscribe to AHS the series, otherwise you might miss my next two parts (of which only one features D/A/N as a relationship (and background at that)). I'll be starting to post the first of them next Monday.
> 
> In the meantime you're welcome to peruse my [Haven writing tag](http://kaelthewriting.tumblr.com/tagged/Haven), there are a few things there that have yet to make an AO3 appearance. Or you could listen to my [Threegulls mastermix](https://open.spotify.com/user/kaelstrom3/playlist/19tb8M6JfEQB1fFQwo4IBv), it'll at least kill 10 hours...
> 
> And as always, you're welcome to come chat with me, on either my main Tumblr [WhenWolfbaneBlooms](http://Whenwolfsbaneblooms.tumblr.com), or my writing tumblr [KaeltheWriting](http://kaelthewriting.tumblr.com).

**Author's Note:**

> (if you can't wait you could always chat me up on my Tumblr (link in my bio). Also I'm looking for a beta if anyone's interested.)


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